Red Bones posted:

I was at a bar with an Icelandic friend and we used it to look up how distantly he was related to Bjork. It would work with other famous icelandic people too but we couldn't think of any.

Der Kyhe posted:

Yeah the Patronymic surname system isn't actually helping on this matter.

Krankenstyle posted:

inherited surnames are a feudalist-mercantilist invention.

it used to be that people had one given name, and if necessary, one or more bynames depending on context. say in your home village, you'd be william johnson, but over in the next village youre william woods cause it's closer to the woods. or perhaps you were just william or will your entire life without needing another name.

nobles and burgers and other rich assholes needed to be able to vouch for their holdings and what not, and one of the ways to do that was by introducing inherited surnames. now a person could be known to be the great grandson of whomever without assembling the Þing and reciting generations of ancestors. it was generally enough to say that he was known by general agreement to be of that family. naturally it could be disputed if necessary.

the common folk never had a problem until taxes started being a regular thing. but now they needed to be looked into, their movements controlled more closely, what not. so we had surnames forced down upon us, usually just a petrified version of some random byname, often a patronym.

now a whole bunch of people are stuck with this half-assed bullshit like being named Johnson but not being a son of John, and people named Smith who are not smiths, just because capital wanted to make rentseeking easier (make no mistake, 90+% of taxes in recent history have been levied by private individuals, only for a fraction to then be paid on to the soverign, not that they deserved it more).

Der Kyhe posted:

Yeah, I know this by firsthand, actually. My surname follows the normal Finnish convention of <something>-nen usually meaning "person of the riverside" Jokinen or "person who owned a farm with an ox" Härkönen and so on and so on, the most populars being "person living in a hill" Mäkinen or that "person of the riverside". Except that my surname is "person whose ancestor used to live in the noble estate X". And yes I have investigated this and I am not related to the "noble family of X". In fact, none of my surname are, they are more likely "people who left the servitude of X".

Kanine posted:

quote:

By request and sworn to Truth, she explained that her deceased Husband stood up this Morning about 4:15 and that she began making Coffee while her Husband went to his Workshop to sharpen a Scissor, that had been delivered for Sharpening, wherewith the Deceased so did. When the Deceased went to sharpen the Scissor, she said that it might be best if she cut Food [=prepare breakfast], but thereto the Deceased answered that it could wait some.

When the Coffee was finished, she went to the Workshop and called her Husband and they went together to the main House where the Deceased drank Coffee. When he had drank this, the Deceased said that he needed to go to the Workshop and do something about his one Shoe, which he brought with him (Police Assistant Hein was sent to the Workshop and returned with a Shoe that bore clear Signs of the Backpart having been taken off and it had not been used on the Ground) and added that she could cut food. She then cut Food and when she thought it was Time for her Husband to go to Work (it was about 5:30) she went to the Workshop and then found that her Husband had hanged himself from the Workbench.

He sat along the floor with the Legs stetched out in front and his Back against the Bench with the Head resting against the Workbench. She promptly grabbed a Knife from the Bench and cut him from the Noose and laid him on the Floor, whereafter she ran to her Neighbor Master Carpenter Peter Andresen, and the latter arrived with his Son Apprentice Mason Emil Andresen; Peter Andresen also fetched Bathhouseowner Jensen. The Clothes of the Deceased were loosened, likewise his Neckerchief was cut off and the Deceasaed was warm still. He was then brought to his and her Living Room and laid in Bed without further being done to him other than his Clothes being taken off, whereafter the Wife of Mason Andresen went into Town after a Doctor; whereafter Doctor Schiødt came about 7-7:30.

[The Widow] assumes that her Husband, after drinking Coffee, was only a half Score Minutes in the Workshop before she found him hanged. She assumes that her Husband's Motive was Monetary Worries. He, who was 65 Years old, had for some Years worked for Carpenter Hansen in Roskilde but when the latter closed his business he could no longer work there, and because he was old he did not take further Employ, but worked for himself. In the last 10 Days, the Deceased has worked for Consul Schram in Roskilde, and when the Deceased came home Yesterday Evening, he complained, what he had done for some time, about being tired and flat, and this Morning he said that he "probably could not go further" which she understood to mean that he would not go to Work in Roskilde Today.

That is the only Reason that she can think of, though she cannot really grant its Validity, as she and her Husband had little work, they had no Debt in their House and some Money in the Bank, and their Children would also help them as best they could.

This Statement read and approved, with the Addition that she and her Husband had always lived well together. Dismissed.

Krankenstyle posted:

inherited surnames are a feudalist-mercantilist invention.

it used to be that people had one given name, and if necessary, one or more bynames depending on context. say in your home village, you'd be william johnson, but over in the next village youre william woods cause it's closer to the woods. or perhaps you were just william or will your entire life without needing another name.

nobles and burgers and other rich assholes needed to be able to vouch for their holdings and what not, and one of the ways to do that was by introducing inherited surnames. now a person could be known to be the great grandson of whomever without assembling the Þing and reciting generations of ancestors. it was generally enough to say that he was known by general agreement to be of that family. naturally it could be disputed if necessary.

the common folk never had a problem until taxes started being a regular thing. but now they needed to be looked into, their movements controlled more closely, what not. so we had surnames forced down upon us, usually just a petrified version of some random byname, often a patronym.

now a whole bunch of people are stuck with this half-assed bullshit like being named Johnson but not being a son of John, and people named Smith who are not smiths, just because capital wanted to make rentseeking easier (make no mistake, 90+% of taxes in recent history have been levied by private individuals, only for a fraction to then be paid on to the soverign, not that they deserved it more).

(in the west, that is; i cant speak to other parts of the world)

Red Bones posted:

The reason there's a small number of very widely-held surnames in South Korea (Li, Park, Kim, etc) is related to this. Historically, only the nobility had surnames and it was a signifier that you were a member of an extended family/clan that came with the associated political and economic advantages of belonging to that family network. Surnames start appearing around 600Ad, and then after that occasionally when people came into money, they would buy the right to use an existing clan surname to get that clan access, no marrying in required. Whenever the nobility came into financial difficulties, selling surnames was a way to make money, so there's a big uptick of some names after events like the Japanese invasions of Korea in the 16th century. Surnames finally became mandatory for everyone after 1909, during Japanese rule, and the most recent super-influential clan were the Kims in the 1800s, which is presumably why that's such a widely held name today.

This is all from a good book, Korea: The Impossible Country by Daniel Tudor. I bought it because I realised I didn't know anything about Korea, and it's a very readable 300-page overview of South Korea up to the present.

Alhazred posted:

Speaking of surnames. The ashkenazic jews of Germany or Eastern Europe used hebrew patronymic names instead of permanent names until 1787, when five years after the Edict of Tolerance the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II issued a decree called Das Patent über die Judennamen. The edict was supposed to make life easier for jews like abolishing gold stars they had to wear and a tax that was only levied on the jews and cattle. But the decree said that they had to adopt permanent family names and only speak the national language of the country.

In Norway people usually named themselves after the farm they lived on and changed their surnames if they moved. Permanent surnames didn't became common before around 1900. Around 70% of norwegian surnames (like my own surname) is the names of the farm where their families originally came from.

Der Kyhe posted:

EDIT: So this is purely a speculation but someone migrating to US or Canada might americanize their name from Härkonen to Harkone, since it is easier to say for the locals. Atreidas, unfortunately does not mean anything in Finnish, but if you need to grasp the straws, "atrain" is Finnish for the trident and fishermen tool you use to catch stuff.

see https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrain

Alhazred posted:

In Norway people usually named themselves after the farm they lived on and changed their surnames if they moved. Permanent surnames didn't became common before around 1900. Around 70% of norwegian surnames (like my own surname) is the names of the farm where their families originally came from.

Arban posted:

Another big chunk of norwegian surnames are patronyms that got turned into family names, like Andersen, Jonsen and so on. (look for the -sen ending) My surname is one of these.

One disturbingly common name is "Ødegaard" meaning "desolate farm" signifying that sombody had taken over a farm that had been abandoned, normally due to the plague killing everybody on it.

BattyKiara posted:

Question for Icelandic people: What happens if there is a case of father unknown? Are matronyms a thing in such cases? And how much stigma would there be to have a surname that screams "My mum didn't know who made her pregnant!"?

BattyKiara posted:

Question for Icelandic people: What happens if there is a case of father unknown? Are matronyms a thing in such cases? And how much stigma would there be to have a surname that screams "My mum didn't know who made her pregnant!"?

Samovar posted:

I believe that's because Atriedes is from Greece; i.e. ancestors of Atreus.

Ornamental Dingbat posted:

I ended up being the result of her marrying her adopted aunt's son, and I grew up thinking that everyone's grandmothers were sisters.

Alhazred posted:

If a Norwegian surname is rare enough you have to ask each one with that name if its okay for you to take it.

FiftyFour posted:

Vietnamese surnames are the absolute best. There are only 100 to choose from (and choose you must if you want to get a Vietnamese passport.).

hard counter posted:

incidentally when some of the parents of my friends moved to canada, they took the opportunity to invent new last names for themselves

must've felt nice

hard counter posted:

incidentally when some of the parents of my friends moved to canada, they took the opportunity to invent new last names for themselves

must've felt nice

Ornamental Dingbat posted:

I retained it as my middle name and in 30 years haven't encountered an English speaker who can pronounce it.

Ornamental Dingbat posted:

My parents were prescient enough to rename me with an American-friendly name when we moved here instead of sending me to kindergarten as Hrafn.

Ornamental Dingbat posted:

My parents were prescient enough to rename me with an American-friendly name when we moved here instead of sending me to kindergarten as Hrafn.

hard counter posted:

too bad my parents couldn't do anything about my english-unfriendly surname but i guess you gotta take the loss somewhere \_(ツ)_/

Alhazred posted:

If a Norwegian surname is rare enough you have to ask each one with that name if its okay for you to take it.

Kennel posted:

In Finland you have to do that even if it's a very common surname (unless your spouse/adoption parent/ancestor within 5 generations has it).

At least taking a completely new name is relatively simple.

quote:

Guards issued a strike ultimatum on March 14, when they demanded Boone’s immediate removal. Those that reported to work complained about the presence of civilian observers. They resented that individuals could monitor job performance and report violations of prison regulations, and felt ganged up on by the presence of formerly incarcerated individuals. On March 15, eleven prisoners were released from 10 Block and entered the general population, and two hundred guards walked out of Walpole in an official guard strike. Guards that were normally present at all times in corridors left their positions entirely unattended. The guards’ union continued to demand that Boone leave. Boone responded by suspending 150 of them for five days without pay.

The 15th marked the official start of the prisoners’ campaign, because when the opportunity presented itself to takeover Walpole, concrete goals became to exercise self-determination within the prison, and to demonstrate to the media and the public that the prison itself was unnecessary. These goals differed from the earlier goals of Perelle’s resignation and the arrival of outside observers, and were more radical than the NPRA’s supposed framework of worker’s rights.

quote:

The inmates developed a high degree of organization. According to one observer: “When we visited Walpole, the prisoners had ended their work strike. The guards were still out. And we found a complex society at work, a society that puts out official state documents, records and printed forms, building materials, light handicrafts, license plates and 18,000 meals a day for its population…it has its workers, its employers, its organizations, its cooks, craftsmen, educators, even its artists.”

quote:

From March 15 to May 18, the NPRA both functioned as the elected representative of the prisoners at Walpole, and was responsible for running nearly the entire institution. Prisoners ran a school, conflict resolution, and counseling, and demonstrated the inadequacy of the traditional ‘correctional’ workforce. During the whole time of the non-violent takeover, not a single outbreak of murder or rape occurred.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

I have a last name that has Germanic roots but was thoroughly Anglicized and people still can't pronounce it properly.