Ted Gostin: > 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? My great-grandfather's sister emigrated from Norway to the USA in 1892. She married a Swede there in 1895 named Karl Joel Levin. His birthname was Larsson, but he thought there were too many of those in Chicago and adopted his brother's soldier name instead -- Levin. The Swedish soldier names are a topic in themselves and probably something you are familiar with. -- Kjell Ove Hattrem I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin. (L. Cohen)