What’s in a Name? :: essays papers

Whats in a Name?I gain always been very proud of everything that I have accomplished in my life. I am proud of one thing more than anything else my heritage. forever since I was a child I was told all about my grandparents and their journey from Denmark to the United States. I was curious what their homeland was like, but it never seemed to be a topic of discussion. My grandmother boasted the Danish flag in her home, and displayed pocket-size trinkets that said velkomen on them. My knowledge was limited to these few things I precept when I was a child. Since both of my grandparents had passed away, I started my research by choose up the phone and calling my father.My father, Larry Jensen, didnt know very much about Denmark either. He knew a few stimulates from his family and their birth dates, so I started from there. I hit the internet with my newly obtained knowledge and I searched for anything that could link me to my past. I did not find anything about any of my specialized relatives, but I learned about how and why I got my become discover. Apparently, Danish people did not have resist names until the belatedly 19th century when new laws were introduced forcing them to take on a surname. The reciprocal people of Denmark didnt use family names to identify themselves. Before it was necessitate to have a last name, people used patronymics, meaning they took on their fathers stolon name with an ending to make their last name. It was also common for people in a town that was great to use their occupation or place of residence as a last name. Many of the girls would get the fathers first name with datter or dotter attached to it (meaning daughter of.) The boys would get their fathers first name with sen or son attached to it (meaning son of.) In Denmark, datter and dotter meant the equal thing, just as sen, and son were the same thing (Origins of Danish Names). The name Jensen, meaning son of Jens, has many different spellin gs. The Dutch forms of Jensen are Jans, Johansen, Janse, Jansen, Janssen, Hoensen and Janzen. The pedigree of all of these names comes from the stem or the variation of a stem, which is Jan.