What’s in a Surname?
8 May 2006 – 6:39 am
This weekend I learned that my proud German surname, Schrock, isn’t German at all — its Swiss (derived from Schrag). While that might not sound like a big deal, it’s been bugging me ever since.
All my life I thought I was 7/8 German and 1/8 English. Being nearly all one nationality gave me a sense of pride in Germany and German made things ( I still find it amusing that Americans don’t define their nationality as American, but that’s for another story).
My last name originated in Switzerland, but apparently my relatives lived in the Alsace province of France for a few generations.
So am I French or Swiss?
Long before Schrocks were Schrags my ancestors were pushed from the Fertile Crescent into Switzerland by the Roman Empire.
So does that mean I’m French, Swiss, Persian, or all of the above?
In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter, but it’s an odd question — how far back do you go to determine a nationality?
