Re: Naming customs (was Re: punctuated abbreviations)

 --- Nathaniel G. Lew wrote:

> Incidentally, there is an Icelandic violinist on the international circuit
> whose stage name is Judith Ingolfsson.  I wonder if her real second name
> is Ingolfsdottir but that her agent thought that it sounded just too
> strange in other Germanic-language-speaking countries.
Is she really a citizen/inhabitant of Iceland? Otherwise, I could very well
have been that Ingolfsson is her husband's name. Or perhaps was she born
somewhere else and therefore automatically inherited her father's last name.

In general, when a last name is gender-specific, this always causes trouble for
immigrants in countries where the phenomenon is unknown.

For example, when a Polish lady marries a gentleman called Pieradzki, her name
automatically becomes Pieradzka (i.e. if she elects to adopt his name).
However, if she would marry in the Netherlands, she would become Pieradzki,
which sounds definitely strange to Polish ears.

Likewise, I once was acquainted with a Polish woman living in the Netherlands
who had a son. She wanted her son to have her last name, but unfortunately, her
name was Frankowska. After all she had to resign from the idea, because it
would be almost impossible afterwards to changes his name from Frankowska to
Frankowski...

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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