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Archiver > DENMARK > 2002-03 > 1015352504


From: Rich Hansen <>
Subject: Re: [DK] Danish names question?
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2002 10:21:44 -0800
In-Reply-To: <00c101c1c419$c03f87a0$be2ee243@hppav>


Well Sylvia wrote something or other on 3/4/02 11:45 PM

> Hi: My Danish gg grandmother married in Denmark with the surname Hansdatter
> (the man she married was English), but in England on her children's birth
> certificates she lists her maiden name as Hansen. I thought I understood
> how the naming patterns went i.e. sons of and daughters of, but I'm not sure
> why she did this? Also, one of the daughters is variously listed on
> certificates and census as Sine, Sina, Sini. Can anyone tell me what the
> correct spelling would be? Many thanks in advance. Sylvia in Seattle

Start with, Hansdatter and Hansen are nothing more than the male/female
version. Thus switching from the female version in Denmark which was/had
been following the patryronimic system to the Male version (which would have
been expected in England) is not a big leap of faith.

Sine is almost always an abbreviation for something. My great-grandmother
was Sine and her name was Hansine, but there's Larsine, Nielsine etc. All
the sine does is make a male first name female. Sine in Danish would be
pronounced as Sina in English making the spelling change sensible. We
English speakers would make a word ending in -ine to sound as "ain" so
changing the ending to -a does nothing other than make the word sound right
to an English speaker. (Haven't a clue as to why there'd be a Sini but who
knows what the census taker thought.)

Rich
--
There's a fine line between a groove and a rut

Rich Hansen



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