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Names When Napoleon ruled western Europe he introduced family names on the big scale. People where forced to think about a family name. At that time it was common in Holland to have a name like "Janssenz" meaning Janssen Zoon translated " of Janssen" There where others who weren't that serious about their name and named themselves "de heer Poep" translated as Mr Shit or "de heer Naaktgeboren" translated as Mr Born naked. Today some people still feel the negative aspects of their joking ancestors concerning their name. Some others used their name in an ironic cause by faith. An owner of a wheelchair business is named "de heer Beenhakker" translated as Mr legcutter. In western Europe people from the upper class will name their off springs with 2 given names like Jan-Daniel or Florisz-Jan. The amount of people in the top management with 2 given names is very high. This is almost singular in the US where you must have a middle initial like Mark J Kohler. Where J stand for Junior. Or Better Mark J Kohler II. However in Western Europe, if you have a muslim name, you will be discriminated or you are heavily biased. It is a prooven fact that if you sign your resume with "Mohammed Hoessein" the odds of receiving an invitation for the job interview is almost zero. The ultimate irony is that people who are on the down side of society are named Hussein, Mohammed or Hafid. You can change your name but hardly anyone is using this right. Perhaps it is due to the long administrative work and the costs. What is a name anyway, just a name. |
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5/15/2010 7:54 am |
when I was younger, names that were generically foreign, seemed odd, but as I learn about other cultures, the names became more commonly accepted as a name.
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