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What Does Your Surname Signify?


maqroll

Surnames  

31 members have voted

  1. 1. What Does Your Surname Signify?

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Depending on which website you believe, it either means, someone who is or acts regal / someone given a title by winning a contest of skill, someone who lived by a river or stream, someone who is timid, or just named after a female deer. Almost certainly of Celtic origin. 

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My surname, Michelsen, simply means (translated into English) son of Michael. Unlike your average -son name, though, I actually know how it came to be the family name.

My ancestors on my father's father's side immigrated, as did many, to the coast of northern Norway from the famished border regions of Finland and Sweden. The Finnish speaking minority kept old naming traditions longer than most of the rest of Europe. Eventually, though, the name Mikkelsen (son of Mikkel) stuck. Meanwhile, Danish was still very much the preferred written language of official Norway. Thus, the double k-spelling was replaced by my great grandfather to the more continental ch-spelling. Presumably as an effort to assimilate into mainstream society, in an era where ethnic minorities were heavily discriminated against in Norway.

I take pride in my name because of its history. My ancestors lived through some hard times, and I admire them a great deal.

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My name occurs on the UK census approx 100 times in the last 175 years and has no obvious meaning. other than a suggestion its a variation on St Paul.

Personally, a suspicious lack of relatives and back story leads me to think my parents were relocated on some sort of witness protection programme. 

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My surname, Michelsen, simply means (translated into English) son of Michael. Unlike your average -son name, though, I actually know how it came to be the family name.

My ancestors on my father's father's side immigrated, as did many, to the coast of northern Norway from the famished border regions of Finland and Sweden. The Finnish speaking minority kept old naming traditions longer than most of the rest of Europe. Eventually, though, the name Mikkelsen (son of Mikkel) stuck. Meanwhile, Danish was still very much the preferred written language of official Norway. Thus, the double k-spelling was replaced by my great grandfather to the more continental ch-spelling. Presumably as an effort to assimilate into mainstream society, in an era where ethnic minorities were heavily discriminated against in Norway.

I take pride in my name because of its history. My ancestors lived through some hard times, and I admire them a great deal.

Do you have Sami blood?

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Surprisingly, my name means "Son of Stephen".

 

I've been told in the past that it originated in Grimsby, which made me think it may have gotten here from Scandinavia (especially given the "son").

 

But a google tells me it's earliest appearance was in Huntingdonshire, and is probably of Norman origin (which I guess could be Scandinavia originally?)

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