"Ted Gostin" <tgostin@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:NDage.639$OU1.415@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net... > I'm trying to figure out a name change for someone in Sweden who was known > as Johannes ANDERSSON up until the time he left his parish to emigrate to > the U.S. in 1880, but was then known as Johann LEVIN when he boarded the > ship a week later. > > I have traced Johannes ANDERSSON and his family in clerical surveys for > Tissleskogs parish up until April 24, 1880, when the surveys indicate that > he left for the U.S. At that time, he is still listed as Johannes ANDERSSON > in the surveys, as he was in all previous years and in church records. When > he boards the ship a week later on May 1, 1880, however, he is known as > Johann LEVIN, and in the U.S. he and his family were known by the surname > LEVINE. (The family isn't Jewish.) > > I was hoping that the clerical surveys might indicate when and why he > changed his name, but there is no indication of a name change in any of the > Swedish sources I've checked. I did find that a significant number of > Swedes immigrated to the U.S. under the name LEVIN (several hundred), so I'm > assuming that it has some significance in Swedish. There doesn't seem to be > any pattern to where these people came from, so I can't spot any obvious > geographical origin. > > Does anyone have any idea of: > > 1) What significance the LEVIN name has in Swedish, if any? ItŽs just a name... > 2) Why and how a Swedish farmer would change his name suddenly from his > patronymic name ANDERSSON to the surname LEVIN in the week between leaving > his parish and arriving at the port of emigration? At the end of the 19th century the use of patronymic names was more or less abandoned. This was due to a recommendation from the government that every family should adopt a family name instead. When you emigrate, and would like to start fresh in your new country, it should be tempting to adopt the new name immediately. I must admit that IŽm not familiar with the more legal procedure. That is something I have to look in to, (sometime). Kurt F