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What Does Your Surname Signify?


maqroll

Surnames  

31 members have voted

  1. 1. What Does Your Surname Signify?

    • Occupation
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    • Geographic Location
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    • Description (Physical or Otherwise)
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    • Other
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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?
No, I don't think there's much Sami blood in me. My paternal granparents are both from norther Norway, but my grandfather's ancestors were predominantly Kven or Finn, while my grandmother's were of Germanic and French origin.

I do have a lot of Romani blood from my mother's side, though. I'm at least 1/8 Scandinavian Romani. The fact that I'm blond speaks to the strength of that Kven/Finnish dna!

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The name is derived from maoin, a Gaelic word meaning wealth or treasure of treasure, hence when O'Maonaigh was anglicised to Mooney it meant the descendant of the wealthy one. According to Irish lore, the Mooney family comes from one of the largest and most noble Irish lines.

Edited by mjmooney
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I forget the exact translation but something along the lines of "Dark Visitor/Traveller", which suggests specifically Danish extraction, via Scottish/Celtic settling.

So in a way it denotes both appearance and location.

Edited by B94villa
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Not sure, my relatives changed it when they escaped Germany... 

 

This sounds like an incredible story.

 

potentially ridiculously offensive post removed!

Edited by chrisp65
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I forget the exact translation but something along the lines of "Dark Visitor/Traveller", which suggests specifically Danish extraction, via Scottish/Celtic settling.

So in a way it denotes both appearance and location.

Dark Visitor sounds like a metal band.
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