I was told by a "name source expert" that my surname, Skirvin, was Scandanavian, either Norwegian or Swedish, but not Danish. A local (Metropolitan Phoenix AZ) professional genalogist found that a Norwegian ancestor had married an Elizabeth Skirvin in 1730 in Norway. I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. The name came to this continent from Scotland. There are a number of Skirvins and variants of that spelling in the Scottish Church CD-ROMs which leads me to conjecture that the Skirvin surname was carried to Scotland by Viking settlers. Any suggestions about research directions would be appreciated.

Such as it is written, it does not seem to be a Norwegian name. But it could have been changed as many other names : http://www.ssb.no/navn/ Neither in the telephone book : http://www.gulesider.no/gsi/whiteSearchFront.do I was thinking of Skjerven or Skjervheim. Regards Kelly Petit <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de news:[email protected] > I was told by a "name source expert" that my surname, Skirvin, was > Scandanavian, either Norwegian or Swedish, but not Danish. > > A local (Metropolitan Phoenix AZ) professional genalogist found that a > Norwegian ancestor had married an Elizabeth Skirvin in 1730 in Norway. > > I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could > assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. > > The name came to this continent from Scotland. There are a number of > Skirvins and variants of that spelling in the Scottish Church CD-ROMs which > leads me to conjecture that the Skirvin surname was carried to Scotland by > Viking settlers. > > Any suggestions about research directions would be appreciated.

[email protected] wrote: > I was told by a "name source expert" that my surname, Skirvin, was > Scandanavian, either Norwegian or Swedish, but not Danish. > > A local (Metropolitan Phoenix AZ) professional genalogist found that a > Norwegian ancestor had married an Elizabeth Skirvin in 1730 in Norway. > > I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could > assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. > > The name came to this continent from Scotland. There are a number of > Skirvins and variants of that spelling in the Scottish Church CD-ROMs which > leads me to conjecture that the Skirvin surname was carried to Scotland by > Viking settlers. > > Any suggestions about research directions would be appreciated. Have you done a Google search: http://www.google.com/ on Skirvin as yet? There are a lot of hits & information there to look through. Bob

[email protected]: > > I was told by a "name source expert" that my surname, Skirvin, was > Scandanavian, either Norwegian or Swedish, but not Danish. > It might be Norwegian, or an anglified version of a Norwegian name. There are several possibilities. > A local (Metropolitan Phoenix AZ) professional genalogist found that a > Norwegian ancestor had married an Elizabeth Skirvin in 1730 in Norway. > > I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could > assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. > > The name came to this continent from Scotland. There are a number of > Skirvins and variants of that spelling in the Scottish Church CD-ROMs which > leads me to conjecture that the Skirvin surname was carried to Scotland by > Viking settlers. > > Any suggestions about research directions would be appreciated. If I understand you right: Your Skirvin ancestor came to America from Scotland? Your question is whether an ancestor of this Skirvin could have brought the name to Scotland from Scandinavia? This is unlikely (though not absolutely impossible). Similar writing can very well be a coincidence. I suggest that you concentrate your research to Scotland and trace your Skirvin line there. If there is a Norwegian Skirvin connection you have to find it in Scotland. Ivar S. Ertesvåg

<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected] > I was told by a "name source expert" that my surname, Skirvin, was > Scandanavian, either Norwegian or Swedish, but not Danish. > > A local (Metropolitan Phoenix AZ) professional genalogist found that a > Norwegian ancestor had married an Elizabeth Skirvin in 1730 in Norway. > > I wondered if there are any Norwegion census data online where I could > assess the frequency of the Skirvin surname there. > > The name came to this continent from Scotland. There are a number of > Skirvins and variants of that spelling in the Scottish Church CD-ROMs which > leads me to conjecture that the Skirvin surname was carried to Scotland by > Viking settlers. vikings used no surnames never assume in genealogy you will get stuck Scots mostly came from Ireland Hugh W

Someone who looks an awful lot like Hugh Watkins <[email protected]> wrote: > vikings used no surnames Well, no, but they used both patronyms and place names, either of which have often been anglicized into the concept of a surname. This is why nordic folks will often be found with the "-sen" or "-son", (patronyms), or the name of a place of a farm which their ancestors came from. What's your name, who's your daddy, and where are you from? That's the basic structure of the nordic naming conventions. If you think about it, it identifies people to a very precise degree, until population gets too large. > never assume in genealogy you will get stuck Well, OK, but it's certainly worth plugging his name into some of the resources to see what comes up, isn't it? Dave Hinz