Sherry Ellis: Hello. My name is Sherry Ellis. My last name, Ellis, is not the original family name. A few generations back, my family immigrated from Russia. They were trying to escape from all the horrible things that were going on in their country during World War II. When they arrived in the United States, they landed at Ellis Island in New York. Of course, they were asked what their name was, but because my family was afraid of what would happen if the Russian government learned they had left their country, they refused to give their name. So like many other Russian immigrants, they were given the name Ellis for Ellis Island. Who knows what their original Russian name was, probably something long and difficult to pronounce.