I wrote to a friend the other day about having met an exchange student from Finland whose last name ended with --konen. He wrote back and said that's pretty common there. Just now I got a forwarded e-mail that had originated in Helsinki, by someone whose last name ends in -ponen. Are these two endings variations on a theme? Is there an English translation?
No help on the translation, Jackie, but I did notice that a lot of Finnish names end the same way. To wit: names of NHL players from Finland: Teppo Numminen, Esa Tikkanen, [can't remember] Hakkanen? Clearly a theme here. Wild guess - the -nen ending might be like -son (Sweden) or -sen (Norway) - son of?
Then there's the Finnish auto mechanic, Valvo Grindenen, and his daughter, Valvoline.
Jackie,
At first I assumed they were patronymics, but upon a quick google, learned they are more likely possessives of "farm names." Finnish families, apparently, were identified by the name of the farm they belonged to. Some have since evolved into patronymic surnames, take a look:
http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~syli/geneo/farmnames.html
from the same site,
But, if a current Finnish surname
does not end in "nen" then it is very likely that it was originally a farm name...here's another discussion:
http://www.genealogia.fi/emi/art/article216e.htm
MAACO
Sherwin - Williams
Armorall
Sounds like someone's idea of a hangup to me.
That's it, TEd. I'm Finnished with your smart remarks.
Kiwi
Griffin
Pledge
reminds me of the story of the guy who, as he walked about his office, to and from the copier, or lunch, ect., found all his work mates had cans collecting for the march of dime, cancer care, homeless children..
so one day he put a can on his desk for For Ireland's Children..
things went fine until new management came in and put name tag signs on everyones desk.. and John Ireland's jig was up!
Then there was the Finnish dancer, Tommi Tangonen ...
Oh, well, tsuwm, so I misread it. That's because I'm left-handed living on the wrong side of the world.
I'd tell you what the car wax said to the furniture wax but it's now politically incorrect to tell polish jokes.