When I visited Rabbi M. Rose z”l in Jerusalem in 2008 he had a copy of Samuel (Shimon) Rose’s Identity Book that he received when he moved to Birminham on June 9, 1916. The book (pictured above) shows that he registered as “Samuel Rosenov known as Samuel Rose.” Curiously, although he was clearly signing with the surname Rose, the Birmingham City Police changed the registered surname to Rozenow on December 1, 1928, as shown in the following page from the Identity book.
This may merit more inquiry, because it may help us determine other ancestors and descendants who used variations of surnames. It should be noted that Rosenoff, Rozenow, Rosenov are all homophones and have adjacent Soundex codes (R250, R251).
But, by 1916 Sydney had already emigrated to America using the name Rose, and Linda has an excerpt from a letter that Rabbi Abraham Rose wrote to his nephew, Samuel, in South Africa. Samuel compiled the original Rose family tree (in 1995):
1971/06/13
Dear Sammy
With regards to the (Hebrew) Genealogical Family Table, I may be a little helpful. Firstly the family name Rosenoff was changed by the Immigration Authorities here in England when Uncle David (who settled in America later) first arrived in England. The Authorities thought it easier to spell, if the off were cut off. So the name became Rose. After Uncle David, your father emigrated from Ratz Poland, (originally Poland) but was annexed by Russia. Then the rest of the family emigrated and this I think was in 1903 or 1904. I was perhaps 6 years of age, Phoebe 4, and Mosha (Uncle) 2.