Surname Saturday - The most common surnames in Europe

In many areas around the world, patronyms predate the use of family names. A patronym, orpatronymic suffix, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. In Europe many surnames originate from patronyms.

An example is the nr. 7 surname in England: Johnson (0.37%) that originally meant "son of John". On the Faroe Islands Johannesen ranks nr. 7, too (1.09%). In Norway Johansen ranks nr. 2, but the nr. 1, Hansen, is just a shortened version of the same name. In Sweden Johansson is the nr. 1 name (0.16%).  In The Netherlands Jansen ranks nr. 2 with 0.46%, but when the closely related Dutch surnames Jansen, Janssen and Janse are combined, they rank nr. 1. The top 2 names in Belgium are patronyms, too: Peeters and Janssens, names mostly used in Flanders. 

In Russia the surname Ivanov (Ivan's/John's) ranks 2nd (1.30%). That surname is also popular is Estonia and Bulgaria. Jovanović (son of Jovan/John), ranks 1st in Serbia. The prefix Ó in Ireland means "descendant of", while the prefix Mac/Mc means "son of". Nowadays, Icelandic law still favors the use of patronyms - or more recently, matronyms - over family names.

Madness Monday - Death by Beard

A 16th century Austrian, Hans Steininger, was famous for having the world's longest beard - and for dying because of it. Hans was proud of his nearly 1.4 m. long beard. He used to keep his beard rolled up in a leather pouch, but failed to do so one day in 1567. 
A fire broke out in his town that day, and in his haste to evacuate, Hans forgot to roll up his beard. He  accidentally stepped on his beard, lost balance and stumbled. Apparently, he fell down the stairs and broke his neck. 

See also: www.forteantimes.com, science.howstuffworks.com, books.google.nl.

Wordless Wednesday - Giving birth in Pennsylvania

Giving birth in Pennsylvania

Source: Vries, L. de, Ha dokter Ho dokter (Knotsgekke Geneeskunde Uit Grootvaders Tijd), 1980

Madness Monday - A woman with 69 children - or not?!

Feodor Vassilyev (±1707-1782) was a peasant from Shuya, Russia. His 1st wife (her name may have been Valentina) sets the record for most children birthed by a single woman. She gave birth to a total of 69 children. How did she do that? Well, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets in the period 1725-1765 in a total of 27 births. An astounding 67 of the 69 children born are said to have survived infancy.

The French Academy of Sciences attempted to verify the claims about Vassilyev's children and contacted "M. Khanikoff of the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg for advice as to the means they should pursue, but were told by him that all investigation was superfluous, that members of the family still lived in Moscow and that they had been the object of favours from the Government". In the 1930s Julia Bell concluded that Vassilyev's case "must be regarded as under suspicion". Too good a story to be true?!