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WHAT’S IN A NAME? …. A LOT!
By : M.R.Sethi
Names in
Sweden
“What’s in a name?, asked Shakespeare, and then went on to add,
“that which we call a rose/ By another name would smell as sweet”
(Romeo and Juliet). However, name does matter a lot, particularly in
Sweden. According to a Stockholm business consultant, “If you’re
named Johansson in Sweden, you’re in trouble.” Every fifteenth
person in that country has ‘Johnsson’ in his name in one form or the
other. In addition to about 4.00,000 Johanssons, there are 80,000
Johnddons 55,000 Jonssons and 18,000 Johnsons.
Also, there are 390,000 Anderssons, 240,000 Nkilssons, 290,000
Karlssons, 189,000 Erikssons, 170, 000 Larssons and 150,000
Svenssons.*
Therefore, making a phone call is not an easy task. The Stockholm
directory contains about 60 pages of Anderssons, including more than
two full pagesw of Sven Anderssons. To make things somewhat easier,
the directories carry academic titles or aabbreviated job
descriptions, in addition to names and addresses.
In order to help the matters, the government identifies its citizens
by means of a personnummer (person number). When it was introduced
in 1947 it was probably the first of its kind covering the total
population. It is issued by the Swedish Tax Agency (Swedish:
Skatteverket) as part of the population register (Swedish:
Folkbokföring). At birth, each Swede is given a personal ten digit
identification number. The first six digits represent the person’s
birthday in YYMMDD form. They are followed by a hyphen. People over
the age of 100 replace the hypen with a plus sign. The next three
indicate his place in the population register. An ninth number is
assigned to males and an ninth number is assigned to females. The
tenth is a control digit to prevent fraud. It was introduced when
the system was computerized.
Shortest and Longest Place Names
A French village has the shortest name in the world. It is called
‘Y’. The name is short and so is the village. It has a population of
143. Few people in France have heard of ‘Y’.
On the other hand, there is a village in North Wales with possibly
the longest name in the world. The village is
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndorobwilllantysiliogogogoch. The
name requires a signboard nearly six meters long to carry the 58
letters it contains. The name means, ‘St. Mary’s Church is in a
hollow by the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool by the red cave
of ST. Tysilio. The village is very popular among the tourists and
nearly a hundred thousand of them visit it every year.
*These are not the latest figures. Readers are invited to provide
the latest ones.
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