When immigrants arrive in Canada are their names still changed to "Canadianize" them?

Question

My friend told me this still practised by immigration services, is this true?

For example, would the name "Miguel" be changed into "Michael"? Or would the immigrant be allowed to keep their original name?

Answer 1

No, it isn't true.  But there is some confusion at times with immigrants that only have one name or ones where the family name is first and the other names last.  Add language barriers and you can see how confusion could occur.  Also sometimes an immigrant may wish to simplify their name to avoid explainations.

Answer 2

Oh OK - it's not true. What is true is that some foreign names have the family name first and the given name second.

Immigration agencies in several countries often suggest that the names be reversed to suit the "Anglo" style tradition: eg John Cartwright = John who is a Cartwiright; or James McKerchar = James from the Clan McKerchar.

People of the Sikh faith have a name suffix: all men are called Singh, meaning Lion, while all women are called Kaur, meaning princess. This is why in many countries every single Sikh is called "Mr. Singh" even though Singh is NOT his family name.