In the Netherlands surnames became obligatory during the French
(Napoleontic) occupation. At that time, many believe that at the time the
French would have disappeared again, this decrete would become obsolete.
Therefore there are some strange (funny) surnames, like Naaktgeboren (Born
nude).
 
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> Van: Andrew K. Rindsberg <[log in to unmask]>
> Aan: [log in to unmask]
> Onderwerp: Re: Re.  Cypraea stercoraria
> Datum: woensdag 6 mei 1998 16:06
>
> Carolus Linnaeus' name has an even more complex story than Jose Leal and
> Paul Monfils have told. The Romans had three names each (individual,
> family, and clan), but this system was lost in medieval times and most
> Europeans had only one name during medieval times. Surnames were
reinvented
> in western Europe in the 1200's or so, but eastern and northern Europeans
> did not acquire surnames until the 1600's (or even the 1800's in the case
> of Russian Jews). Linnaeus just happened to live at the time when the
> government of Sweden decreed that everyone would have a surname. Until
> then, Swedes used the old method of distinguishing among people of the
same
> name by adding the name of the father, e.g., "Paul Karl's-son" or "Paula
> Karl's-daughter." This is the method used in Iceland to this day.
>
> Well, now, in the yard of Karl's father there was a splendid linden tree
> (basswood, Tilia). The various members of his family invented surnames
for
> themselves based on this tree: Linnaeus (linden), Tiliander (linden-man),
> etc. So Karl's official last name was in Latin from the start. Yes, he
> signed his papers "Carolus Linnaeus." Latin was the hallmark of a
cultured
> man, and Latin surnames are fairly abundant in Sweden and the
Netherlands,
> e.g., Arrhenius, Ambrosius.
>
> Another complication. After his work became famous, Linnaeus was
ennobled,
> entitling him to insert "von" in his name. "Von" means "from" and is the
> equivalent of French "de." French culture was in the ascendant, so many
> nobles in Germanic countries gave their surnames a French ending. So
> Carolus Linnaeus became Carl von Linne', with an accent over the "e," and
> of course he continued to write papers and books.
>
> So that is why you see his name written sometimes as Linnaeus, and
> sometimes as Linne'. The disadvantages of routine latinization are
> demonstrated below, just for fun.
>
> Andrew K. Rindsbergius
> Supervisum Geologicum Alabamae
> Bellator Ater,* Alabama
>
> *Latin Bellator Ater = English Black Warrior = Choctaw Tuscaloosa, who
> resisted the Spaniards under Soto in 1541. "Black" chiefs favored peace;
> "red" chiefs favored war.