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From:
Subject: Re: [NOR-VESTFOLD] Re: Name change
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:50:49 EDT


For simplicity and to ensure that their first name would be in the surname
for posterity. Also Hans might have been too "foreign sounding" for a new
American. On the other hand, I had several relatives with the first name of Hans
and the following surnames: Abrahamsen, Zakariassen and Hansen. They all
became Hans Hansen in the U.S., making it exceedingly difficult to research them.

Daryl Ann


In a message dated 6/27/2006 8:42:21 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
writes:
But spelling -- or the lack of appreciation for it -- cannot account for my
great-grandfather, Hans Martin Halvorsen, becoming "Martin Martin" in
America. I have never heard a likely reason for such a change in an
immigrant's name.

His son, Severin, became Samuel. That I can understand. Others of his
children were Olina, who became Lena, Magda who became Margaret "Maggie,"
and Magnus Georg who became George Magnus and kept the Halvorsen name. His
son Thomas, my grandfather, stayed Thomas, another daughter, Agnes, stayed
Agnus, and Martin's wife Gurine stayed Gurine. But why in the world would
Hans Martin Halvorsen choose to be known as "Martin Martin" the rest of his
life in America?

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