Re: USAGE: Betreft: USAGE: surname prefixes

Rob Nierse:

>When Napoleon ordered all Dutch to have surnames, some mocked it
>and choose weird names like Naaktgeboren (Born naked) or Vroeg in de Wei
>(Early in the Meadow), so this is how prefixes like 'in' entered the Dutch
>name
>registers.
LOL!!  I love "Vroeg in de Wei", probably because to an English speaker
it sounds like it should mean "Frog-in-the-Way" (as in, "Look out! There's
a frog in the way!"), an absolutely splendid name.  "Naaktgeboren" is also
extremely clever.  Do you have any other examples?

I heard a story (perhaps apocryphal?) that in the Middle Ages, many
German principalities forced their Jewish citizens to adopt German
surnames, and charged them on a sliding scale in the bargain.  Those
who could afford to pay a lot were given pretty or poetic names,
like Himmelblau ("Sky-Blue") and Baumgarten ("Tree-Garden");
those who could only afford to pay a little were given insulting or
ugly names, such as Schmutz ("Dirt") and Eselkopf ("Ass-Head").

Matt.