Re: OT: Anthroponymics

Hallo!

John Vertical wrote:

> [...]
>
> That reminds me - I read from an old (70s I think) copy of Guiness World
> Records that a Pennsylvanian man born in 1904 had the longest known personal
> name, and he also had first names for every letter of the alphabet. But it
> was his family name that was the totally insane one. I think I wrote it down
> somewhere ...
>
> OK, here goes:
> Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth
> Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor
> William Xerxes Yancy Zeus
> Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorffwelchevoralternwarengewissenschaftschaferswessenschafe-
> warenwohlgepflegeundsorgfaltigkeitbeschutzenvonangreifeudurchihrraubgierigfeindewelchevor-
> alternzwolftausendjahresvorandieerscheinenerscheinenvanderersteerdemenschderraumschiff-
> gebrauchlichtalsseinursprungvonkraftgestartseinlangefahrthinzwischensternaitigraumaufdersuche-
> nachdiesternwelchegehabtbewohnbarplanetenkreisedrehensichundwohinderneurassevonverstandig-
> menschlichkeitkonntefortpflanzenundsicherfeuenanlebenslanglichfreudeundruhemitnicheinfurchtvor-
> angreifenvonandererintelligentgeschopfsvonhinzwischenternartigraum Senior.
>
> My German is a little rusty (OK, a lot rusty) - can anyone provide a
> translation of the family name?
It is not a coherent German text, but I can try:

"Wolfe-Schlegel-Steinhausen-Bergerdorff" is a compound of two frequent
surnames (literally, `wolf' and `mallet') and two place names
(there are many Steinhausens in Germany, and Bergedorf is a borough
of Hamburg), the rest seems to tell a strange story:

"...who before ages were conscientious shepherds whose sheep were well
tended and diligently protected against attackers who by their rapacity
were enemies who 12,000 years ago appeared from the stars to the
humans by spaceships with light as an origin of power, started
a long voyage within starlike space in search for the star which has
habitable planets orbiting and whither the new race of reasonable
humanity could thrive and enjoy lifelong happiness and tranquility
without fear of attack from other intelligent creatures from within
starlike space."

Some Dänikenites indeed took this name as an ancient memory of
an encounter with visiting alien intelligences, but I'd rather say
that Mr. Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff made it up after
having read too much pulp SF, the incoherence perhaps resulting
from his lack of knowledge of actual German, merely stringing
together German words he looked up in a dictionary.

Greetings,

Jörg.