"Meerns" query

[Douglas G. Wilson]

It certainly seerns puzzling.

The only "meern" I can find is De Meern, a place near Utrecht in the
Netherlands. At a quick glance, the Dutch items turned up by Web search
seem to refer to this place.

"Meerns" just doesn't feel like an English word, nor like a transcription
of a Dutch or German one in the current context, IMHO. Still could be
someone's [nick]name, I suppose.

Is it possible that "Meerns" is a typographical error for "Meems"? Still
opaque without context, but this is a family name, and it would also be a
credible slang term or abbreviation (e.g., for "Mimi" or even perhaps
humorously for something like "memorial"). Depending on the type-face the
two might be virtually indistinguishable. Did you notice the word "seerns"
in my first sentence?

-- Doug Wilson