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Archiver > GEN-DE > 2000-02 > 0949479653


From: Lars Jørgen Helbo< >
Subject: Re: 'Surnames' not 'family names'
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 08:20:53 GMT


On 1 Feb 2000 22:20:51 GMT, (Carsten
Laekamp) wrote:

>But the basic problem
>still remains the same: to understand a word used by someone else,
>you must know how that person defines it.

And this is IMO the basic problem here. I have a feeling that many
people from the anglo-saxon side use surname as just another word for
family-name - maybe because they are not aware that there are other
kinds of surname.

Anyway, because of this, when I hear the word surname I also
understand it as family-name - because that is what is usually meant.
And usually I then have to start with an explanation that there are no
such names in my part of the world, and that the parish is much more
important than the name.
--
Lars Jørgen Helbo <>
http://helbo.cjb.net
http://haurumsall.cjb.net
http://www.salldata.d

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