I am not aware that the Danes followed this custom. I am a 100% Danish-American (second generation) and none of my forbearers (so far as I know now- back 8 generations) ever had a name derived from the name of a farm. The pattern you describe for 'first' and 'middle' names was the pattern for first and last names, respectively. Fritz Hansen, Wichita, Kansas ----- Original Message ----- From: Ida B. Wiese <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, February 07, 2000 3:48 PM Subject: [ILWILL-L] Jorgeson > The brothers Jorgeson were probably George (Georg or Jorge) and Peter > Jorgeson before they immigrated, but in the Scandinavian countries there > would have been a third name--the farm name where they were from. > Scandinavians always had three names--their own first name (which was > determined by the order of their birth, after the male grandfather, the > female grandfather etc, or in the case of females, the female grandmothers > etc.) followed by their father's name with son or dau attached as their > middle name (Jorge's son would be Jorgeson), followed by their farm name (as > Himle or Hilla etc). <SNIP>