RURAL NAMES

People out here in the sticks sometimes have odd names. The man who has the farm in the middle of the village is called by everyone Joergen Cat. He doesn't in fact own a cat, but simply feeds all of the strays who hang around. My wife has a cousin, an electrician who grows potatoes on the side; he is known as Potato Lars. He sells a proportion of his crop at a stall on the edge of town at his friend Aage's house. Because Aage also sells B.P. propane gas canisters, he is called Gas Aage. Perhaps the oddest name is Ole Milkman. Ole is not a milkman, but his family used to have a farm shop selling dairy products. But that was in Ole's father's time, and Ole has simply inherited the nametag from his dad.

This bizarre nomenclature is an echo of a bygone era. In the Middle Ages, most people only had one name, the Christian name given to them when they were baptized. As horizons widened and the population grew, surnames began to appear, either "son of" formulations (Williamson, Wilkinson etc) or job descriptions. Many common surnames today - Smith, Shepherd, Taylor, Mercer, Thatcher, Miller, Knight - reflect important mediaeval activities.

Perhaps it is only me, a foreigner, who thinks the local system is slightly weird. But I know I will have been accepted when they start calling me Walter Blogger.

Walter Blotscher