Today Sarah was mentioning how one of her classmates was "so Swedish" that she celebrated
St. Lucia's Day at home. I grant that this can make you seem awfully Swedish, but I pointed out to Sarah that we are also part Swedish.
"How much?" she asked.
Well, allow me to elaborate. First, I will be the first to admit that, until 2002, I had no idea that I was part Swedish. I thought I was Finnish and German/Polish, and with a strange but meaningless last name. Fortunately, this all changed when I went to Finland for two weeks. There, armed with the scant knowledge that my ancestors were from somewhere in Finland and used to be named Kouri, I had a conversation with someone who told me that, apparently, my great-great grandfather must have decided to use his Swedish name upon emigrating to the U.S.
"Swedish last name?" I asked, perplexed.
"Of course," the friendly Finn replied. "
Layon is Swedish. It should be spelled Lejon. It means lion."
Lion!
Since then, other things I've learned:
- The
Göta Lejon was a ship in the Swedish Navy until - interestingly - 1971, when I was born.
-
Försäkrings AB Göta Lejon is the city of Göteborg's (Sweden) insurance company. Göteborg (Gothenburg in English) is named for the river Göta, which empties into the North Sea at this location.
-
Saab's logo incorporates a griffin, a mythical creature that is part lion and part eagle. "The heraldic
griffin's head - derived from the coats of arms of the Skåne and Östergotland counties in southern Sweden - traditionally symbolises vigilance."
And at the time that the Lejon-Kouri situation was explained to me, I also observed that western Finland was bilingual and bicultural, so I just happen to fit that mold perfectly. For example, the city where my friend Vesa lives is called Turku in Finnish and Abo in Swedish. (
photo of a Finnish train bound for Turku/Abo). My ancestors are from Tornio and Kemi, right on the border with Sweden.
So I went from having a family name and history that I thought meant nothing, to this, in a matter of minutes.
