New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesLeKander
Did some poking around and what I learned, combined with help from a fellow poster on this msg board, leads me to believe that LeKander comes from Lekman, and Lekman means "layman," i.e. a non-ordained person.
Why someone would adopt Layman as a last name would be interesting to know. Suppose my ancestor was a deacon or something of the sort at his local church.
Any thoughts?
Oh, and I think it's interesting that the 'K' got capitalized at some point - perhaps to make the name look French? Oui, oui?
LeGrant
Grant
Why someone would adopt Layman as a last name would be interesting to know. Suppose my ancestor was a deacon or something of the sort at his local church.
Any thoughts?
Oh, and I think it's interesting that the 'K' got capitalized at some point - perhaps to make the name look French? Oui, oui?
LeGrant
Grant
1
Replies
Maybe the name was written that way on some official document and your family was stuck with it. You're right, the capital K doesn't belong.
There is a website, www.nordicnames.de which lists a Swedish given name, Lek. It explains it as being from the old Norse Leikr, meaning "play" or "game". So your ancestor might have been the son of someone called Lek, and he added the Greek -ander, "man", to the patronym to show that he was educated. There's a list of such names here -
http://www.etgenealogy.se/nwonamn.htm
Carlander looks like a similar construct, with Carl as the father's name.
There is a website, www.nordicnames.de which lists a Swedish given name, Lek. It explains it as being from the old Norse Leikr, meaning "play" or "game". So your ancestor might have been the son of someone called Lek, and he added the Greek -ander, "man", to the patronym to show that he was educated. There's a list of such names here -
http://www.etgenealogy.se/nwonamn.htm
Carlander looks like a similar construct, with Carl as the father's name.
1