Get your name in Crusader Kings II!

[Zuckergußgebäck]

Ullstad
One of my ancestors used to own a rather large farmstead - Ullestad - in Voss, Norway, during the 17th century. Back in those days it was customare to be known by the farm where you farmed, resulting in a surname of sorts. Heavy drinking and resulting bar fights and fines on behalf of his descendants forced them to sell it a couple of hundred years later and move to a smaller farmstead, which was in its turn sold and the family moved to an even smaller farm. One of the sons about the time of the repeated sales and switches to smaller farmsteads decided to escape the drudgery of Norway (and the poor inhertiance prospects as a third or fourth son in a family constantly selling their farmstead to pay fines) and take a position in the royal guard in Copenhagen, thus preserving the name "Ullestad" for his line. Some time during the 19th century the 'e' was dropped, resulting in the present surname.

I am also, on my mothers side, descended from a knightly family of Scania, the Baad (yes, I know) family. Its coat of arms are still visible in the monastic church in Ystad.

[Eldridge]

Elkins (early variants include Elkyns, Ellkins, Ellkens, Elkens, Elekins, Elekins, Elekyns, Elkin).

The name of a family of wealthy Saxon landowners living in Oxfordshire at around 1050 AD.

It has also been suggested that the Elkins family was one of a few Saxon families who were in fact loyal to William the Conqueror. Lands held by the Elkins family remained intact right through the Norman Conquest and beyond. This perhaps shows that the Elkins family will take any precautions necessary to ensure their continued wealth and survival (high intrigue?). Written evidence shows the family owned 45 acres of land in Stanford, Oxfordshire until late as the early 14th century proving their status as a successful family throughout the medieval period.

[Woeful]

Biłda in Polish Bild in German
My grandparent's are German born in Prussia before WWII. I'm born in Poland, father of my grandpa was a minor noble of Prussian aristocracy in fact in WWI he was a German officer i know that our ancestor's came to Prussia with the Teutonic Order, from north Germany, maybe from Hamburg or southern Denmark i don't know more of this, so this is a true story.

Of part of my mother my grandfather was Russian a normal Russian, and the mother of my mother came from Georgia so probably they wasn't important in medieval life.

[Gwyn ap Nud]

Well, considering I can trace my line back past William the Conquerer...

Try Fysche. Looks German, is actually Anglo-, either -Saxon or -Norman, either works, they just couldn't spell. Norfolk name. Good King's Lynn name. Merchants, and yeah, fishermen. So, this family from the fens and marshes, probably around Cambridgeshire, moves, all at once, to King's Lynn, and decide to take, as their surname, the surname of the locally powerful and influential Fyshe family. Later, not long after CKII ends, they would move, all at once, to London. *le gasp*!!!!
What drove them, en masse, from the trials of inland swampy farming, to the trials of coastal swampy farming? What drove them yet again, en masse, from the trading and fishing hub of all of eastern England, to the completely unfamiliar trials of living in the economic and political capital of the Isles?
Later, in the V2 era, they would move, yet again, en masse, to Canada; those that were not sent, for reasons unknown, to the prison-continent of Australia.
What could have caused these sudden movements, and entire family, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, all to move from one place to another, all at the same time?
What was the secret of those who chose, upon their arrival in King's Lynn, to take a new name so that their past couldn't be traced any farther?
Where they Vampires? Werewolves? Murderers? Cannibals?
We may never know, but it is clear, that some dark secret stalks the family. A secret that, perhaps, yearns to be told...

[Quelknight]

Kornijenkä. Decent's of the Vikings with family members around Scandinavia and the Baltic. Many members of the family were soldiers, though some were just simple merchants and farmers, now, the family is still very big, though weaker then it was in the Viking Ages, they are hated by a lot other families due to they're brutality and they're religion: Ásatrú...

[Nazaroth]

Irish side of the family, The Smiths (maybe a peasant rebellion won somewhere)
Scottish side, Stuarts and Ross (Probably already included in the game.)
English, The Hunts. THe Hunt dynasty doesn't sound so bad.

[Southerncap]

The Burk family was granted lands in Ireland by the Earl of Pembroke (who was also known as Strongbow) for their assistance in his 12th century invasion of the island. They mostly settled in Galway. The name is the latest on a series of variants that likely began with the German word Burg, which means fortification. This may explain my unhealthy obsession with castles and strongholds...

Our family words are Ung roy, ung foy, ung loy (One king, one faith, one law)

[Lord Blekinge]

well I am an Andersson, not many of those with my spelling in Australia or South Korea. Though according to my father our family name was Drabant till the 1920's when a wave of anti-militarism swept Sweden thus causing my great grandfather to change the name. A drabant was a bodygurad, and in Sweden, the drabantan corps was the personal bodyguard of the king. So not a bad family name, in fact I have been tempted to change it but I was born an Andersson and so I should stay one.

[cccino]

Irish side of the family, The Smiths (maybe a peasant rebellion won somewhere)
Scottish side, Stuarts and Ross (Probably already included in the game.)
English, The Hunts. THe Hunt dynasty doesn't sound so bad.

If you truly had a Scottish and Irish ancestry you wouldn't admit to having an English ancestry!

[Nikolai]

Well, the story of Wilborn:

The vast movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of England of 1066 brought the Wilborn family name to the British Isles. They lived in Lincolnshire. Their name is derived from the Old English world welle, meaning well, and the Old Norse word brunnr, meaning stream or spring, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a well by a stream or spring. First found in Lincolnshire where they were Lords of the manor of Welborne and conjecturally decended from a Norman noble, Robert Malet, who was granted the church and mill by king William the Conqeror in 1066. The ancestry of Robert goes back to Graville near Havre in Normandy in 990, where he was decended from Algar, the seventh Earl of Mercia. Moving forwards a few centuries, John Wilborn of Mecklembourg emigrated to Norway in the late 1600s, where he worked as the royal gardener in Christiania(now Oslo). From his seed, I arose, and a bright future beholds me.

[Kowalinho]

Kowalczyk (Kowal - Blacksmith)
Krakow, Poland

Family were one from the most powerful families in times of Partitions of Poland. Known by their blacksmiths skills was main manufacturer for heavy industry. Strongly oppositing with fight for independence were repressed by invaders authorities. Thanks to their help with arming polish partisant troops, invaders were losing too many soldiers and supplies to maintaine current political situation. So independence is matter of time.

-----

Hope my english is good enough :P

[Katte]

Himstedt: being a descendent of a centuries old Saxon noble family, the von Himstedts ruled the once mighty barony of Himstedt near Hildesheim. The wealth of their realm soon draw the attention of the Bishop of Hildesheim, but - according to an old legend - the realm was to stay in the hands of the Himstedts line as long as the family closes ranks. With this in mind, the bishops tried to grab the prosperings lands for ages until they bribed an archivist to falsify old documents thus splitting the Himstedts' realm into two: "Groß Himstedt" (Great Himstedt) and "Klein Himstedt" (Little Himstedt, Link). Since no one wanted to rule a place called "little" the Himstedts ultimately split about this, making it easy for the Bishopric of Hildesheim to claim the once rich lands. After loosing their possessions the former nobles soon had to sell their "von" in order to make a living.

Rumor has it that nowadays the youngest Himstedt seeks ways to reclaim their lands, practising with Swedish fee simulation software...

[the_hdk]

Dorieus
-------------

The Family Name was first recorded to our knowledge in the modern times by a Church in 1634 in Malborskie region (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). It was a simple record. Jan Dorieus (John) married Jadwiga. After some more digging through the church files more was found. John or better said Ioannes (his Greek birth name) was a rich Merchant who settled in northern Polish territories and married a local girl. He accumulated great riches and for his monetary help to the Crown he was admitted to the Szlachta. He used the Dąbrowa Coat of Arms.

Dorieus CoA in the Polish Commonwealth

After even more digging, more information on the Family name was found. Well not so much information as myth. Jan Dorieus claimed that the Dorieus family was descended form the old Spartan Ruling Dynasty, the Agiads. Or to be more specific the Spartan Prince Dorieus, after whom the Family has been named.

Dorieus was the son of the Spartan King Anaxandridas II. According to Herodotus the King couldn't have children so the King remarried and had a son. Unexpectedly, his first wife became pregnant too, and three boys were born: Dorieus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus. Unlucky for Dorieus, Cleomenes the son from the second wife became King. So Dorieus decided to start a new Greek colony. His first try at a colony was near the river Cinyps (today Wadi Qaam in Libya). But the colony was unsuccessful and after only three years they got expelled.

After Two years Dorieus went to the Island of Sicily to start another colony. Here he encountered an alliance of Segestans and Carthaginians who ware not so pleased by new settlers in the area. The myth goes on to say that Dorieus led the final battle against the Alliance and lost his life. But his sons could stay in Sicily and his name would live on.

[Galleblære]

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.

[AllmyJames]

Myall

Some jealous historians with a lack of imagination will tell you that the name is a corrupted spelling of 'Michael' or even, scandalously, 'Miggle'.
In fact, the Myall dynasty has a long and interesting history. The first Count Myall was a little-known lord of a minor holding somewhere in Western Europe. However, by a series of strategically-planned marriages, cunningly-plotted assassinations and clever courting of the church, he and his descendents quickly increased their prestige and influence until the 3rd generation descended from Count Myall was anointed a Duke and the fifth a King.

With the power of the dynasty growing exponentially, it wasn’t long before half of Europe was under their sway. But this is when disaster struck. King James V was struck down by an unknown sickness, resulting in a form of insanity. Complaining endlessly of ‘micromanagement’, and squandering his vast riches on bribes to insignificant vassals, the greatest king of the Myall dynasty soon bankrupted his sprawling holdings, and fulfilled his own darkest fears. In a period known as the great 'Realm Duress', Western Europe was torn asunder by civil war, and soon fragmented into innumerable smaller holdings. The disgraced Myall descendents, divested of their lands, were scattered to the four winds, eking out a living under their Mongol overlords for centuries to come.

[Samefar]

So will there only be one winner or several?

[DerGroseKA]

The family name of my father and of me ist Hoch. My Grandparents came to Germany after the WWII from Bohemia, they are Bohemian Germans. The family comes from the City Eger, now in Czechia.
My mothers family name is Voigt, they came from Saxony (city: Leibzig/Torgau) in Germany. I think both families were in the upper middle class, so they are not poor.

[Nazaroth]

If you truly had a Scottish and Irish ancestry you wouldn't admit to having an English ancestry!

Unfortunately my English family is a little more predominant than my Irish and Scottish, even though I inherited the Irish name. XD [I know what you are referring to though, my Grandmother is an interesting character being 80ish now, raised in the Victorian manner in England and moving over to Canada. I think the accent is amazing. :P]
That and my family is oddly enough fairly stable in spite of this fact. XD
Since the Hunt family came from from the border of Wales, we presume some Welsh in the line, but not entirely sure other than the Hazel eyes that I have (Green-brown variety)... the Scottish sde I think are 5th generation Canadians, moved away from the clan land a while back. After visiting Scotland, and the Ross lands, I think Canada was a bit more hospitable place, and more viable for farming. :P (Not that I didn't think it was an nice place or anything. )

[EmperorTojo]

Sadly I know very little of my family's background, even if I have tried to research.

However, I know that on my mother's side her grandfather was a polish noble, by the name of Leonard Stasilewicz. He was part of the Uhlan regiments during WW2, and he was last heard of as he rode to face the russians along with his horse, Kasztanka (Chestnut). He never returned though, but his horse survived. My mother's grandmother then tried to get this horse back which had been brought to Lwów and held by ukranian soldiers along with other horses. They told her she would get her horse if she could recongnize it amongst the hundreds of horses. She then yelled out "Kasztanka!" and the horse reacted, and came to her! Sadly though, they never gave the horse back even if they promised.

There is a book about him and his family history which dates back to the middle ages, which one of my relatives have. I will try to retrieve it and then I might get into this competition.

I fear that will be too late though. But yeah, good luck to everyone else!

EDIT: Heh, edited my post and then tons of people have posted after me.

[Lt. Calamari]

van der Bijl
Dutch for "of the axe", according to an old family legend (probably from around the time of this game) there were three brother who rescued a woman from some sort of evil guy. My ancestor was the brother who used an axe.