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Erades

Somehow comes from the Latin word of 'Hereticus', 'heretic' in English. This makes me suspect that my ancestors weren't that orthodox in their believes. We seem to originate in Cologne, were we were first called heretic. True story.
 
Hvid:

A Danish name meaning the colour white. It is said that the Odin-worshipping island vikings of Zealand adopted the colour white in opposition of the 'black' Thor-worhipping vikings of Scania.

Some of you will know the great Danish clan 'Hvide', or even played them in CK1 - they take their name from these vikings. Some of the best known members of this dynasty include personalities as Absalon Hvide who was the Archbishop of Lund as well as being greatly involved in the politics of the Realm and the first to build a castle outside the small town of Havn, later København, which is now the Danish capital Copenhagen.

Another important member of the Hvide clan was Stig Andersen Hvide or Marsk Stig (Marshall Stig) as he is called in Danish. After committing regicide in what has later become known as the Murder of Finderup Lade, Marsk Stig (and his co-conspirators) were declared outlaws. Plotting with the Norwegian King to punish Denmark, he spent the last years of his life pirating and counterfeiting coins on the small Danish island of Hjelm off the eastern coast of Jutland. It is from this position in the Kattegat, that it is said he impregnated numerous serving wenches from the mainland, and thus it happened that many a farmer boy in the eastern-most part of Jutland came to bear the name Hvid.
And such is the story behind my name.
 
So will there only be one winner or several?

There can be only one.

Family name : MacLeod.

The Clan MacLeod is based around the Isle of Skye, with a rich and diverse history. 2 immortals belonged to the Clan MacLeod, Duncan and Connor. The progenitor of the clan was a man called Leod, he wasn't immortal, because he's dead now.


/not a real entry.
 
The true story of my last name is actually quite pertinent to Crusader Kings II: the name's Gillette, and it relates to CK2 in that a Gillette traveled with William I (the Conqueror) on his fateful journey in 1066 to Anglo-Saxon England. My ancestor Gillette fought at Hastings and was granted a fiefdom in England and a title. However, somewhere along the way, the noble title lapsed (we're not sure why) and a descendent eventually sailed to England. A Gillette married the granddaughter of William Brewster (of Pilgrim fame) and settled in New England. Later, a descendent of his moved to Virginia, set up a small plantation and his son served with gallantry for the Confederacy during the Civil War, achieving the rank of major before being mortally wounded at the battle of Brandy Station in 1863. I'm that Gillette's great-great-great grandson.
 
Debiasi

conteudo-submenu-1258721441.06F.jpg

Debiasi Coat of Arms

An italian family that originated and has lived in the region of Trento for many years, currently, the surname Debiasi can be found in over 67 municipalities in Italy (mostly in the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto), Austria and in Brazil.​
 
Naumanen

It has been derived from Saint Naum and the -nen ending, which is common in Finland, especially in Eastern Finland.
Saint Naum was a Bulgarian scholar, who lived in 830-910 and was one of the people who translated the Bible from Greek to Slavic. He was also one of the founders of Preslav Literary School. In 905 he founded a monastery in Macedonia.

Here's wikipedia article of him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Naum
 
thumb-schotanus_familiewapen.jpg
coat of arms

Schotanus
The history of the family goes back as far as the year 1385; the family-name refers to the village of Schoot in the province of Friesland in the North of the Netherlands
 
Perreault (there is actually 30 recognized ways to write it, if you want the full list just tell, for I got it somewhere =p) - Brittany origin, the armory are: de sable à un aigle d'argent. (A white eagle on black background, no idea if it is actually the right one for me, since French armory record are kind of a mess due to a certain Revolution, it basically the best I could find that had some reference weight behind it, especially considering my familly moved around quite a bit before my great-grandfather, so don't know which of the 5 Perreault (some of which changed name orthograph on arrival), that were French colonial, I am a descendant off, since hard to follow record back to one of them, has to make link back to France)

Also name also present in Burgundy territory, has seigneur (Lord) de Petit-Pont, de Montrevost (most accurate I can be for where it is, is somewhere around Dijon), but that family line trace itself back to Collin Perrault, seigneur des Fontaines, des Tourelles, la Morlaye, la Magnanne and other place. (Link for reference)

So the family seem to come from somewhere north of Rennes, for that seem to be where the different fief on Collin seem to be located from my search.
 
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Rukavina

Rukavina is one of the oldest Croatian surnames. It's most common in Lika ( region in Croatia )
The surname is connected to the old Croatian Noble family, Vladimirović. One of the members of Vladimirović family, Grgur Vladimirović, is the founder of Rukavina's.
Grgur Vladimirović had 7 sons. Only one of those sons is important for my family branch, his name was Miloš. After Grgur was captured by Ottomans ( later he died, one of his sons killed him ), all of his sons left to the different parts of Croatia, but Miloš settled in area of Perušić, wich is today a small city near city of Gospić ( it's a city in Lika, wich is region in Croatia, like I said earlier ). He started his family there.

You now ask yourself, how the heck they changed thier surname from Vladimirović to Rukavina? When Grgur Vladimirović was captured by Ottomans, the guards were not able to remember his name, they called him "The one with the long sleeves", because his uniform had long sleeves. Rukav means SLEEVE on Croatian. They called him like that many times, so they accepted to call him "Rukavina".

Rukavina's are best known in military. They were soldiers and military commanders. They didn't really had anything to do with politics, they lived on battlefield, and died on battlefield.
Rukavina's also have WWI and WWII history. One of the soldiers, and later a commander, is Juraj Rukavina. Juraj finished his school in city of Gospić, and went to the military academy in Vienna. He was a normal soldier until the end of Austria Hungary when the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was formed. He became a captain of the police, until he was retired in 1920.

After that, in the year of 1932, he was involved in the "Lički Ustanak" ( Velebit uprising ), actually, he was the commander in that uprising ( wich was planned by Ante Pavelić ). Later, when Axis occupied Yugoslavia, and formed Indenpendent State of Croatia, he became lieutenant colonel of "Ustaška vojnica", the elite army of "Ustaše" party in Croatia ( Something like SS in Nazi Party. An elite force of the party ). He was named lieutenant colonel by Ante Pavelić himself ( the "Poglavnik" of Croatia. Poglavnik was like "Fuhrer" in Germany in that time. He was the leader of the country )

After the fall of Axis, he was captured by UK soldiers near Bleiburg. UK deported him to Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and he went to trial with other Croatian fascist leaders/generals. He was sentenced to death ( he was executed ).

That's it. :D
 
Hallaråker / Hallaraaker
Name presumably comes from a region in the Hordaland / Hardanger area of Norway, and the name reflects the local geography; 'Hallar' means tilted and 'åker' means field, so 'Tilted Field'. No wonder then that they lived mostly off the sea, and indeed rock carvings depicting ships have been found in the area dating back to the bronze age. Sadly little concrete remains about the original settlers, but they were required to uphold a ship and crew for the Kings leidang.

You're a Hallaråker? I know some of those.:)
 
Von Zernikow:
The name stems from a small and old Sorbian settlement north of Berlin that was founded in the early 14th century. Its historic meaning can be translated as "black earth".
My ancestors were of lower nobility and therefore our name once had a "von" included.
But alas, we lost it during the Thirty Years War when my ancestor owning the lands and title died. Both, lands and title, were later confiscated by his feudal lord, leaving behind a then poor widow.
The most prominent Zernikow surely is Heinrich Zernikow, who fought in the war of 1870/71. In a battle near the French city of Bionville Heinrich played the French signal for retreat. Though he was killed while blowing the horn his brave deed resulted in victory for the Prussian troops.
For years to come Reichskanzler Bismarck and Paul von Hindenburg sent letters of condolence and a brass band on every anniversary of Heinrichs death to his widow.
 
Lockwood

Although the meaning of the name Lockwood is known by many to be 'Enclosed Wood', other than that they originate from the village of Lockwood in Yorkshire very little is known about how they got this name.

In fact, the first Lockwood's gained their names as servants of Sauron the Deceiver during the First Age of Middle Earth and were responsible for the fate of the Entwives. Tasked by the Dark Lord to capture and imprison the Entwives, the Lockers of the Wood executed their task so successfully that millennia later almost all memory of the Entwives had vanished.

Their task was completed when garden tie wire was invented, allowing the Lockwoods, as they had become known, to secure the remaining Entwives to wooden posts set firmly in the ground to make a neat hedgerow. Sauron was most pleased with this.

After the fall of Sauron, the Lockwoods went into the world and multiplied. They have since repented of their role in the downfall of the Entish race by destroying all that is unnatural in the world, but focussing mostly on beer and pizza. They will not rest until all beer and pizza in the world has been consumed. This they vow.
 
I was adopted when I was seven, and my adopted name is ... Winner. An illustrious name full of promise, no? You would think that this name would arise from the victorious acheivement of a past and famous ancestor, but alas no. It most is just the evolution of Vienner or someone from Vienna as it passed through Germany and came to the US. From what I can tell it is most common in southern Germany and the Belgium/German border. It should definitely be included for all the endless possibilities. Just think of the irony of having a new courtier ask to join your court, a famous warrior who you decide to pay half your treasury to so he will join your court abilities unseen - and this Winner has 3 stats across the board. Think of all the confusing battle results screens that he will be involved in - too good to pass up I say!

So will there only be one winner or several?
So far I think I'm the only posting, though I may be surprised!

Since I am adopted, I'll also throw my biological surname in the mix. The Rogers name has the illustrious meaning of "one who is famous with a spear or a renowned spear warrior" and I believe first popped up in Cornwall. What I think I pretty awesome is that my Rogers lineage (I'm American) goes all the way to Scotland (not sure how they got there, one theory is that the Ruadri or McRuadri [already in CK - at least TASS mod] was changed to Rogers after the Jacobite rebellions to appear more English - though I can't remember where I came across that). From there my lineage goes up through the Grant clan - through many of the clan heads - and I'm descended not only from King James IV (of Scotland of course) by one of his mistresses, but one of my favorite medieval personages, the Black Douglas! (Medieval Scottish history is one of my favorites, so I was pretty pumped to discover this). On other sides of the family it's almost largely Scottish as well (Campbells, Youngs) and bit of Welsh/English (Owenby). A "spear-famous" dynasty I think would fit right in CKII though!
 
Our family name's(Perhat) origin has three theories:
1.Came with Napoleon to Istria as French military officials,settled there and spread all over Croatia.
2.Came to Croatia in the Middle Ages from Slovakia,from a village called Perhat,in the vicinity of Bratislava.
3.Came to Croatia as Austrian bureaucratic officials.
I think the second one is most likely.
 
Marienne

Means " the one who comes from the sea". An old family of french normans, which splits when the fires of the 100 years war consumed this area of France.

A small part, loyal to the king of England, fled to the british island. They are still refered as "the traitors" nowadays in the French branch of the family, who grew richer from trading within the realm, loyal only to the good king of France. The family had another split during the french revolution, between the richer "bourgeois" from Paris, who saw they're interests best served by the new government, and the branch who had emigrated in the "perigord noir" , and was willing to die for they're king. What most of them did.

A name marked by history, a great source of pride to me. (from now on,since all of this is fake :laugh: )
 
Von Hirsch (Germanic, specifically Prussian / Teutonic Order)

The family name can be traced back to Hans von Hirsch, dead 1440, a Prussian Freiherr and Rittmeister, a landed noble of Königsberg (today Kaliningrad).

Hans (later von Hirsch) achieved nobility from humble beginnings, being born the son of a Teutonic Knight's hunt master (in charge of the stables and dogs for hunting). Hans was practically born in the saddle, riding every day through his childhood, and had fairly close contact with the noble family his father served.

During the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War of 1409-11, Hans naturally served in the cavalry, where he quickly showed that his skill at handling horses was equalled by his skill at handling the men riding them. Through exemplary service is several battles he was soon appointed Rittmeister (cavalry squadron commander). In the summer of 1410 Hans was among the thousands of men assembled under Teutonic Grandmaster Ulrich von Jungingen to fight the legendary Battle of Grunwald, specifically, he served under Grand Komtur Kuno von Lichtenstein commanding a squadron of light infantry against the Polish forces.

Hans never spoke of that fateful battle afterwards; perhaps due to the vast blood he spilled, or perhaps due to the shame of this crushing defeat for the Teutonic Order. However, unlike many of the Teutonic nobles, Hans survived the fight. Hearing that the main Teutonic stronghold of Malbork was still under siege, he followed the retreat back to Königsberg.

At Königsberg he was received with great acclaim and became knighted as a Freiherr (a low noble title of Baron rank), receiving his own small estate in Königsberg and a coat of arms. Honoring his woodsman and hunter family line, he took the name von Hirsch (of the Hind) and his coat of arms included a deer. Marrying the young daughter of another Teutonic Freiherr, Hans lived out the rest of his days in prosperity, founding a family name that lives on six centuries later.
 
Sadly, for those of us with common surnames, we're kind of out of luck!

I'm a "Brannon", which as I recall is a variation of one of the 50 most common surnames in Ireland.
In fact, I'm pretty sure "Braonain" is a surname in the first Crusader Kings...
 
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