Surname Line

[darkerhorse]

My paternal surname line is thoroughbred Sicilian dating back to the 1700s. All Sicilian born who married Sicilian born and lived in Sicily until my grandfather's immigration.

So, it's easy to identify my paternal surname line as "Sicilian".

By contrast, my maternal surname line was mobile. From my grandfather who was born in the U.S., the line goes back two generations born in Norway, the previous generation born in Denmark (moved to Norway), and the previous generation born in Germany (moved to Denmark), taking us back to the 1700s. The men married women who had Norwegian, Danish, and German ancestry themselves (mostly Norwegian).

Growing up we only knew of the Norway connection so we considered that line as Norwegian.

How would you identify that surname line now?

Norwegian?
German?
German-Danish-Norwegian?

[MarcuccioV]

My paternal surname line is thoroughbred Sicilian dating back to the 1700s. All Sicilian born who married Sicilian born and lived in Sicily until my grandfather's immigration.

So, it's easy to identify my paternal surname line as "Sicilian".

By contrast, my maternal surname line was mobile. From my grandfather who was born in the U.S., the line goes back two generations born in Norway, the previous generation born in Denmark (moved to Norway), and the previous generation born in Germany (moved to Denmark), taking us back to the 1700s. The men married women who had Norwegian, Danish, and German ancestry themselves (mostly Norwegian).

Growing up we only knew of the Norway connection so we considered that line as Norwegian.

How would you identify that surname line now?

Norwegian?
German?
German-Danish-Norwegian?

Germanic/Scandinavian

[darkerhorse]

Sounds like a good compromise. Or, I suppose you could say it's a German line which became Scandinavian.

[MarcuccioV]

Sounds like a good compromise. Or, I suppose you could say it's a German line which became Scandinavian.

It's whatever you make it, I suppose...

[Miloruce]

Given the diverse ancestry across multiple countries, I would suggest identifying it as German-Danish-Norwegian. This captures the complexity of your lineage and acknowledges each part of your heritage.