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Skriv ut sidan - SV: Origins of Name Molander?
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Titel: SV: Origins of Name Molander?
Skrivet av: Jörgen Tollesson skrivet 2022-08-22, 14:54
Let's not complicate things... :)
People could take any name they liked. We don't know for sure why someone took a certain name, we can only guess. If the name starts with the beginning of a place name, where that person was born or lived, it's not a wild guess that that is what gave the inspiration to the name. Or they could take a name that was inspired by another name they had seen - or rather heard. Or just make up a name that looks or sounds 'fancy'... :)
The only thing we know for sure is that ordinary people did not speak Greek. So forget about andros. If a family came from a village called Öland and took the name Ölander, then of course they didn't take Öl- from Öland and added -ander from andros. They simply added -er to Öland.
Motala does not begin with mo, it begins with mot, a place where persons or roads möts (meet). The ending -ala is disputed, so let's not get in to that. :)
There are many Molander families all over Sweden that are not related. And their respective ancesters who originally started to use the name can of course have done so for different reasons. Many of them were soldiers, so in their cases it's a soldier's name that they perhaps didn't even chose themselves.
In other words, we can't say that Molander, or any other name like that, actually "means" something. We can only try to guess why a person or family chose that name. And it's far more likely that Molander begins with Mo- plus the ending -lander (from land), than Mol- plus -ander (from andros).