FW: What's in a name

[Jesse Wick]

Did you ever hear the one about the twelve strapping young Swedish lads who 
beat up the one-legged Norwegian?

Jesse "Vik" Wick (speaking of them immigration officials)

>This image of Swedes trying to blend in with Norwegians makes me laugh.  
>I don't know why exactly.

>Immigration officials often misspelled names, which may explain some of
>the Larsson-Larson-Larsen confusion.  This may or may not have happened
>with my family name, which may or may not have had two esses at one time.

	Steve Maas

Don Larsson wrote:
> Spellings can be touchy.  "Larsson" is the third most-common name in Sweden
> but hard to find over here.  (Last time I looked, there were only five 
> listings in all the Twin Cities area, where you'd expect to find more.)
> 
> A lot of Larssons must have dropped the second s to blend in with the 
> Norwegians. (When it's spelled "Larsen" it's probably Danish--but there
> are exceptions to all three, probably complicated by the fact that all
> three countries belonged to one or two of the others at some point in
> history!)
> 
> Don "No, it's not 'Larrson,' you twit!" Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)