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#59900 03/06/02 04:40 PM
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Jackie Offline OP
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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?


#59901 03/06/02 04:52 PM
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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?


#59902 03/07/02 01:42 AM
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William Shake...


#59903 03/07/02 01:55 AM
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Then there's the Finnish auto mechanic, Valvo Grindenen, and his daughter, Valvoline.


#59904 03/07/02 03:03 PM
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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


#59905 03/07/02 03:40 PM
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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


#59906 03/07/02 03:48 PM
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MAACO
Sherwin - Williams
Armorall



TEd
#59907 03/07/02 04:00 PM
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TEd, you forgot Nokia.


#59908 03/07/02 05:55 PM
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Sounds like someone's idea of a hangup to me.



TEd
#59909 03/07/02 06:08 PM
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That's it, TEd. I'm Finnished with your smart remarks.


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