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Posted by on February 26, 1998 at 16:26:48:
In Reply to: Re: How did I get my surname? posted by Jonas on February 25, 1998 at 17:17:16: : : My great grandfather came to America in 1880 from Sweden. He was born in Mellby parish, Alvsborg county, Sweden on January 28, 1863 according to family knowledge. However when I look at parish records all I find for that date is Johan born to Sven Jonasson and Britta Andersdotter. Britta's father was Anders Avall. Since Avall in Swedish is pronounced Ovall here, I've assumed that he had the name Johan Avall while in Sweden (???). How can I verify my assumption??? : My guess would be that your surname Ovall, is Åvall in swedish (If Ovall came from Avall, then the first letter "A" is most likely be the swedish letter "Å"). Åvall is a combination of two words Å and Vall ("Å" = stream or small river, "Vall" = bank, like in embankment). : Maybe you call that "river side", I don´t know (I´m not an expert in languages). : Your assumption is seems logical to me. : Hope it helped you, Larry Åvall. Thank you for your reply. I was aware of that spelling in Swedish and that was how I did my search thus far finding Anders Avall. Yes I think my logic is good too but it sure would be nice to see some written evidence showing Johan Avall in Goteborg between 1863 and 1880. |