Dan Bongino's grandparents changed their last name from Bonjorno to Bongino after arriving at Ellis Island.
Posted by The Dan Bongino Show, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
The Dan Bongino ShowSep 16, 2026
The claim that the grandparents changed their name from Bonjorno to Bongino after arriving at Ellis Island conflicts with the National Park Service, which states it is a myth that names were changed at Ellis Island because inspectors worked from shipping-company manifests.
What was said
… I love you all. Thank you, Patrick. That's really nice of you. Patrick Randazzo: Irish first name, Randazzo definitely does not sound Irish, kind of like, uh, Dan Bongino. Bongino, if I always used to tell my grandparents sorry, I don't mean to get off track, but my grandparents changed their last name when they came here because Italians were being discriminated against when they landed over in Ellis Island, so they changed it to Bongino. It was Bonjorno, and they thought it sounded less Italian. I said, Grandma, I love you, I love, God rest your soul, but you didn't do, you didn't do a good job. I'm really sorry. Like, no, no one's confusing that for, like, Irish. It's not, oh, Bongino or something. It's just, it's just not. It's true story. Sorry. …
The Dan Bongino Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The National Park Service's Ellis Island guidance states it is a myth that names were changed at Ellis Island, because inspectors worked from manifests the shipping companies created, and spelling differences usually come from manifests or later indexing.[1]
Contradicts. Bongino's later show transcript attributes the name change to a written-down error at Ellis Island involving his great-grandparents, not a deliberate change by his grandparents to avoid anti-Italian discrimination.[2]
Context. Genealogical listings show the Bongino surname derived from a paternal line with the name Bongiorno, which is consistent with a name change in the family line but does not establish when or why it occurred.[3]
Context. The PodSized AI summary of the same episode repeats the misspelling account about great-grandparents; it is a low-credibility automated summary and adds no independent evidence.[4]
Sources
4 sources: 1 primary, 3 not rated
- 1How to Trace Your Immigrant Ancestors- Getting Startednps.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 2The Dan Bongino Show - Bongino Weekend Report - Week of 10/12/26 Transcript and Discussionpodscripts.co · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3Dan Bongino - Ethnicity of Celebs | EthniCelebs.comethnicelebs.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 4Dan Bongino — Podcast Appearances & AI Summaries | PodSizedpodsized.io · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post