Ted Gostin wrote: > 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.) But neither were many other Swedes with non-patronymic surnames that resemble Ashkenazic surnames, especially in Americanized spellings. I think the mistake being made here, although understandable, is to assume that any such name must be suspected of being of Levitical origin. > 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. That geographical observation is perhaps key in that one would expect a concentration of emigrants from larger cities if they were Jewish. i.e. I don't believe that there ever were any shtetls in Sweden. As a professional researcher of Jewish genealogy, you would know better than I, and I stand to be corrected, but I don't believe that Sweden had much of a pre-war component of Jewish people and certainly fewer back in 1880. > Does anyone have any idea of: > > 1) What significance the LEVIN name has in Swedish, if any? "LE" is not a Swedish article, but "VIN" has the same meaning and association that it has in French and, to some extent, in English. There has also sometimes been a fascination with things French in Sweden and assuming such a name could be part of that. It could also be that the farmer was associated with grape growing in some way. > 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? Cause & effect, when given the opportunity. Others have mentioned their cases already. As for me, my own g-gf did exactly that when he got his boat ticket in 1879!. He dropped his patronymic and assumed a *fancy* name. In his case, it was a bit too fancy and no American could pronounce it, so he had to change it again to Miller. > Any suggestions appreciated. > > Ted Gostin > tedgostin@generationspress.com HTH Bob