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.