• Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I like how a lot of nordic last names are just telling you whose son you are

    "This is the son of Hans... You know, Hanson"

    • wtypstanaccount04 [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      IIRC this was partially an ellis island thing: immigrants had no last names so they would just say who their dads were

      • Barabas [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Patronyms were fairly common all over Europe at the time. It was around the 1600s that names started being inherited among non-nobles. Usually either a patronym or an occupation name otherwise.

    • Parent [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Don't they do that in the middle east too? Ali bin Hussein. Ben-Gurion.

      • AcidSmiley [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yes, and the same goes for Russian, where you have your father's first name with an -ich suffix as your middle name. The Ilyich in Vladimir Ilyich Lenin just means "son of Ilya"

    • AlyxMS [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Then why there aren't a bunch of Hansonsonsonsonsons around?

      • Barabas [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        It is just a patronym. So unless your father's given name was Hansonsonsonson that wouldn't happen.

      • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I’m also curious how hyphenated names work. After a certain point you have to go back down and cut some out right? Who’s names are dropped?