Thursday, January 17, 2008

A instead of O, two AAs rather than one

My mother called me this afternoon after she and my father read my post yesterday. She wanted to add some details to my story. Here's what she wrote:

The three of you were named after Grandma's mother whose name was Randi. And your name is spelled with the "o" because I wanted to make sure it was pronounced correctly here in the US. The Norwegian spelling is with the "a."

Then she said she wanted to send the post to our family in Norway, which is fine, but suggested that I correct the spelling first, so I have done that. I know how it is to have your name misspelled. It's not a big deal to me, but I like it better spelled correctly.

My last name is more difficult than my first. Here in the US, we spell it with a double AA in order to assist in pronun- ciation. But in Norway, it is a single A. Interestingly enough, my father's birth certificate has two AAs, but his brother has only one. Now that's confusing!

Photos: Bergen from atop Mount Floyen; family at the Viking Museum alongside one of the oldest Viking ships (built in 820 A.D.); with our Norwegian family in Skien (birthplace of playwright Henrik Ibsen); poppies and rock wall near Lysefjord in Stavanger.

If you'd like to read my first post about this Norway trip and see a picture of part of the big family group, go here.

2 comments:

Heidi said...

My parents apparently had a little extra time tonight. Perhaps they were waiting for me to get home to call them! Anyhow, they visited my blog and then clicked over to yours. When I finally called home, one of the first things I heard about was this particular blog entry!

It is rather fascinating how names change going back and forth between countries and languages. It's not uncommon either. On my mom's side, have Cyr (French Canadian) and Sears (American).

Anyway, have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure your family in Norway loves to read your blog.