LL-L "Names" 2009.08.18 (02) [EN]

[Lowlands-L List]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 18 August 2009 - Volume 02
lowlands at lowlands-l.net - http://lowlands-l.net/
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From: R. F. Hahn
<sassisch at yahoo.com<http://uk.mc264.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sassisch@yahoo.com>
>
Subject: Names

Dear Lowlanders,

Please bear with me going on some more about the status of my surname in the
USA, or rather about my constant wonderment about such.

I've started working with a new crowd of people. Again, without needing any
coaching, everyone that grew up or at least spent a lot of years in this
country pronounces my surname perfectly: [hɑːn] ([hA:n]). Other native
English speakers do not, with the exception of an Englishman who studied
some German and a South African who knows Afrikaans as a second language and
has also come across this name before. The two (East Coast) Australians, one
New Zealander and one Irish person (Belfast of non-Scottish background)
asked me how to pronounce it and still say either [hæːn] ([h{:n]) or (in the
case of the Irish person) [ha̝ːn] ([ha_r:n]). The Irish person (with whom I
work together most closely) did not even have a clue which country of origin
my name and accent signal ...

As mentioned earlier, Americans seem very familiar with my surname and tend
to find it less remarkable than people in Germany do. It's amazing to me.
Clearly, a slew of Hahns must have immigrated to this country and must have
wildly propagated all over the place as soon as they set foot on this soil.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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