Name change?

Submitted by bobbee on May 15, 2014 - 3:42am

Yes I know, it may seem obscure, abstruse, arcane, maybe even esoteric, but is Arde Bulovas' first name really his first name?

In the 1927 Bulova Executive ad below we see an Adolph Bulova, but he seems to disappear some time later.

I wonder whether he changed his name because of a certain Austrian painter and decorator who came to prominence in the thirties, or are they two different people?

Anyone know?

 

 

 

airborne
Posted May 15, 2014 - 10:57am

I think his name was Arde adolph Bulova if i remember correctly

Reverend Rob
Posted May 15, 2014 - 11:25am

I'm not finding anything too specific about Arde, he doesn't have his own Wiki, but there is a bizarre story of how he married a Romanian woman and bought a cursed statue, and dying a year or so later.....Believe it or NOT!

The name Adolph, understandibly, has become unpopular, in the same way Berlin, Ontario, became 'Kitchener' after WWI. 

JP
Posted May 15, 2014 - 12:13pm

Probably a middle name or vice a versa.

bobbee
Posted May 15, 2014 - 3:04pm

Doubt the middle name bit, as everyone with middle names have the first letter of it showing in the ad. If he had one, the first letter would show, as in "Adolph A. Bulova".

Whilst on the subject, I read in old early 1900's papers somewhere that the firms lawyer at one point went by the surname "Bullowa", and I then seem to remember reading in a later newspaper their lawyers name was Bulova. 

So maybe like many early immigrants to the US the surname may have been 'Americanised'.

Like Samuel Goldwyn the film maker was originally given the name 'Sam Goldfish' by an immigration official who could not spell or pronounce his real name!

bobbee
Posted May 15, 2014 - 6:19pm

In reply to by jabs

[quote=jabs]

Arde Adolf Bulova was the son of Joseph Bulova

http://www.geni.com/people/Joseph-Bulova/6000000014265017386

[/quote]

 

Look at Ardes' profile though. Birth name Adolph Bulova.

I think he later changed it because of the reasons above.

Good find on GENI jabs, Another arrow in the research quiver!

http://www.geni.com/people/Ard%25C3%25A9-Bulova/6000000014265054380

bobbee
Posted May 15, 2014 - 3:45pm

How about this? Pure speculation, but Herr Schickelgruber (as Churchill called Hitler!), was called "Addie" by Eva Braun, and Addie is phonetically close to Arde.

Maybe Adolph Bulova was known as Addie to friends and family, so later changed his name to the very similar Arde, for obvious reasons.

Just my thoughts, nothing solid.

I certainly can't remember ever seeing that there were two sons of Joseph Bulova though.

By the way Rob, here is a little snippet from the Jewish Criterion newspaper, dated November 13, 1936: "President Roosevelt felt as happy, about the present he got just before his re-election as about the election itself . . . The gift ivas Andrew Jackson's watch-chain, sent to FDR by Arde Bulova, America's watch king. "President Roosevelt felt as happy, about the present he got just before his re-election as about the election itself . . . The gift ivas Andrew Jackson's watch-chain, sent to FDR by Arde Bulova, America's watch king.".

Good stuff.