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My wife is Norwegian, so I have some interest here ...

I would definitely conclude that it is related to Sven. Regional spellings and pronunciations often throw us off, but frequently it is just a substitution of several letters whose histories are entwined. The first name of the man you cited, Juernjakob, reflects a definite regionalism. I’d suspect that the name is actually from a combination name of: http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=jorunn and Jacob.

German is related to the Scandinavian languages though more closely related to English and Dutch. So if I were you, I’d check Sven in the First Name database at:

http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=svein

• German surname SCHWEHN - Andy ;—)  Sep 19 2006, 5:02:41 PM
  • Re: German surname SCHWEHN - Sean Foglai  Oct 5 2006, 8:16:02 PM