When my grandfather and his family came to the U.S. they changed their name from Beamenheimer to Beams. My grandmothers family is Salzberg...but in some papers Velvul is used so we're not sure if something was changed...we can trace them back to my great grandparents in Austria and Russia...but no further.
A person’s status as a Jew is completely dependant on the mother. According to what I've been told if you are born a Jew, you die a Jew.