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I'm going to post two if that's okay.

The first is Sheaff, although I've really been able to find history about it too far back. The family has origins in Cornwall (I don't know if they lived anywhere before this but it's possible), and were generally distributed between four professions: Farmers, teachers, priests and soldiers. With links to the Warren family, many of whom were missionaries in China, and were relatively influential in areas of Hunan province. One such person briefly knew Mao Tse Tung (Zedong) when they were teachers in Changsha (I think Mao was headmaster of the school). The Sheaff family has also participated in a number of wars in the last century, including both World Wars and the Crimean War.

I'm also half MacLeod, and I know more about it's earlier history, so I'm going to use this one as well. The MacLeod's originated in Scotland, in the Hebrides, where they established their home on the Isle of Skye. Beginning with Leod (who was born in about 1200) and his sons (Mac meaning Son of), Tormod and Torquil, they went on to become a clan of their own in Scotland. The two sons went on to develop different branches of the MacLeod clan, those of Harris and Dunvegan, and those of Lewis. Leod was reputedly descended from Harold Hardrada, so their may be some Norwegian descent in there. The clan's motto is 'Hold Fast', which apparently originated when Leod wrestled a bull to save the life of a condemned man, to which a friend responded to by shouting 'Hold Fast, MacLeod' and the motto evidently remained. This is also why the image of a bull is depicted on their Coat of Arms. The MacLeod clan also possesses an artifact: The Fairy Flag. This flag was reputedly given to the Clan when one of their leaders or sons (can't remember which exactly) married a fairy. The flag is said to possess magical powers, and can save the clan in times of it's greatest peril, but can only be used three times. It was used once in battle when they were heavily outnumbered, once when a drought was plaguing the land, but has not yet been used a third time. MacLeod pilots possessed pictures of the flag during World War 2 on missions, and a leader of the clan went to Parliament to announce that he would raise the flag if the Germans were able to land on British soil, although the need never arose.
 
Well I can't give an amazingly detailed history of my name, but I know bits and pieces of it.
My surname, as my username suggests, is Tapscott. It is believed to be a bastard mixture of welsh, english and german, that dwelled in England until deciding to pack everything up and leave England for Australia with, or as, the convicts. Now the name can be found throughout Australia... and South America?!

I will even throw in my mother's maiden name, Halse. It is english of low nobility that emigrated away to Australia some timeafter the colonies had been established.

Well that is it; and, unsurprisingly due to the sparse details, it is all true.
 
Popović.

Etymology is quite simple - "pop" meaning priest and the rest being a diminutive designating a son. Therefore Popović = son of a priest. It's one of the most common surnames among Serbs. In case of my family - for generations the eldest son was designated for priesthood, but the practice was (luckily for me) discontinued at the end of WWII when communist government killed circa 10.000 priests as "enemies of the people".
 
Müller
Thuringian
Having had problems in his czech homeland, a man fled with his still young son and daughter to Dresden. He never talked much about his background, which would often be cause for whispers behind his back and would loom over his descendants for several generations to come.
In Dresden he started anew by adopting the rather common name "Müller" and married a widow of low nobility. The woman would bear him another son and two daughters, but she also had a son from her late husband, well positioned as the family heir. The widows son was drawn to battle though and died young in a war, making the youngest boy the new family heir.
The boy himself married into a land owning, god-fearing and politically involved family of traders in Nordhausen (Thuringia). Through their connections he gained contacts in various courts around the central and northern german regions. These were but only the first few chapters of the house Müller.
 
Hanc (Previously Hanz or [less probability]Hans)
I don't know much about origin of Hanz surname, but I know, that my german grand-grand-grandparent Jan Hanz went to Poland in the begining of XX century. After The Great War he decided to stay there. But clerk who wrote my ancestors name in census made mistake - he wrote Jan Hanc.
 
Papadakis.
Basically it comes out from Papas which means Priest in greek.It came out of the commoners of greece because they said "Ah the Priest's son"and so it happened.But actually it comes from the island of Crete and one of my ancestors is Kondylakis.There have been also traced many of my family in athens where it is believed that they started their migration from to crete under the rule of the Acheans.In medieval times such people of the Papadakis dynasty can be traced in places like asia minor coast,crete and even georgia.In the greek revolution of 1821 the Papadakis people of crete came and settled in macedonia to help their fellow greek comrades against turkish oppresion.One now can find many of the Papadakis family in tv who most of them live in athens,but share the common blood of our great family.But unlike any other countries the sons or daughters weren't force to become priests
 
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I've got three that can be used:

a) Malouin
French
Three brothers emigrated from Saint-Malo to New France in the 17th century. I'm a descendant of them in direct patrilinear line. Their origins are unknown, so they can either be locals who moved there or people from the French mainland who emigrated to Saint-Malo first.

b) Dearborn
British - American
Descending collaterally from General Henry Dearborn, General in the American Revolution and Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson, and founder of Dearborn, Michigan.

c) Sanderlin
Swedish
Emigrated from Sweden in middle of 19th century, history in Sweden unknown. Given the unusual patronym for Sweden at the time, however, they were most likely at least little bourgeoisie. Sanderlin can be found in Scotland as well, so I wonder if some had emigrated to Sweden before the 19th century. I can confirm my line is definitely Swedish because the family tree was in Swedish, Swedish towns of birth were mentioned, and there were Sjöströms and Nordins in collateral lines.
 
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Trautmannsberger

Hello there, my name is german, but originally it was bohemian before the early 18th century when my ancestors migrated to bavaria. Therefore it's a very rare name in germany as can be seen here. http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/trautmannsberger.html

There is even a place in lower bavaria called Trautmannsberg which is believed to be the family home of the Trautmannsbergers since the mid 18th century. Trautmannsberger is by the way the bavarian form of "the one who comes from Trautmannsberg", which is designated by the "-er" added to the place name. Beeing a speaking name, Trautmannsberger is formed of Traut, Mann and Berger which freely interpreted is "homely man from the mountain". But this meaning is long since forgotten in modern days germany for "traut" is not used anymore so only a few people understand my name at the first time they hear it leading to misconceptions like Krautmannsberger for usually. Thats the problem with having a very unique name.

It is believed the name symbolizes the trustworthiness of its inheritors, well earned by the early name bearers during the 7 years war on the habsburgian side, where a Franz Trautmannsberger is said to have defended the gate of Prague to his own death winning enough time to barricade the gate and hold the city against the Prussian invaders.

Later in history it's rumored that a Xaver and Johann Trautmannsberger marched to Russia alongside Napoleon as part of his bavarian troops. Unfortunately Xaver fell in the battle of Borodino closing his eyes in the arms of his brother Johann. It is told Johann later fell at Waterloo under the command of Feldmarschall von Blücher, trying to avenge his brother's early death in a futile campaign leaving so many dead bodies scattered over western Russia.

Later on there were Trautmannsbergers at Sedan and Paris during the War in 1870/71 and there were Trautmannsbergers at Verdun and at the Somme some 44 years later during the Great War. And of course there was a Trautmannsberger at Leningrad in 1941, but these are other stories and are to be told another time.
Thank you for your attention.
 
Niven (MacNiven):

Roots: The Roots of the name Niven are found among the Starthclyde- Briton people of the Ancient Scottish/English borderlands

Background: First found in Ayrshire, where they held a famiily seat from anicent times, long before the norman conquest in 1066, The Niven Clan is a sept from the MacNaughton clan and in some occasions the Macintosh Clan, Niven Also had an affiliation to the Campbell Clan.

Motto: Vivis sperandum (Translated: Where there is life, there is hope)
 
Can we submit more than one? I have lots of good names in my family tree in addition to my patronym.
Well since no one is stopping me...

Beville
Long thought by my family to indicate French ancestry, this is only a half-truth. The Beville name stems from the small town of Biéville in Lower Normandy. William de Beville was a knight that took part in the Norman conquest. Following the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror marched his troops north. They attempted to cross London Bridge but were beaten back by the Anglo-Saxons. In the confusion of retreat, the king slipped and would have surely fallen in combat had not a shield bearing the Beville coat of arms come to his rescue. As reward for his valiant efforts, William de Beville was given estates in the vicinity of Peterborough and Huntingdon to settle as his own.

Le Strange
You have to go quite a ways back in my family tree to find this family, but the name is too fun to fail to mention. Originating in England, the Romance of Fouke le Fitz Waryn states that the name was acquired at a jousting tournament held by William Perevil at his manor. The prize for the victor was the hand in marriage of William’s niece, the beautiful lady Mellette and control of the equally attractive Wittington Castle in Shropshire. Challengers came from every corner: Prince Owen of Wales, Prince Eneas of Scotland, Duke Odo of Burgundy, Prince Ydromor of Galloway. But in the end, a relative unknown was deemed the winner, a man by the name of Guy. Was he the son of the Duke of Brittany as he claimed, or was he a local brigand that had forged documents? Either way, he was an unknown entity, and so he and his descendants earned the honorific Le Strange.
 
Origin of the name Forrest:

Transferred use of the English surname which arose in the 13th century in the form of de Foresta (of the forest): hence, "dweller or worker in the forest." Var: Forest, Forrestt.

Essential the last name Forrest, Forrester, or any variant there of, was the last name given to families who would guard, watch, and protect the forests of nobility from poachers; because the noble didn't want anyone else killing his game.
 
Rojas
An ancient Castillian surname.
It literally means "reds" in feminine. It's said it comes from the old Jew families in Toledo and their red hair. That's the most nostalgic and candid explanation for such a meaningful name.
But there are other stories. Other stories only told by fools and drunkards. Other stories whispered in dark alleys in the old city of Toledo. Other stories told by old women to kids in their bed fortresses, where the bloody red legend of the Rojas family can never harm them.
There are other stories that talk about vengeance. They talk about death. They talk about the Rojas name raised to the Layos mountain range, dominating the plains, to become the counts of Layos. The red counts of Layos. almost all of those stories agree on one point. Sancho Rojas did exist. And the peasants down below in the plains knew him. Knew him very well indeed. They say he was tall, dark haired and tan. They called him the moor. Not to his face of course, but they did. And from time to time he learned of someone who spelled the word. And that someone used to be found in the old Roman dam near Mazarambroz. Well not him or her, only some tiny pieces of meat and bones, just enough to know they used to belong to a human body.
Eventually the peasants anger grew to a point where the king himself had to act, for the infamy of the Rojas name ran all over Castille by the time.
There's not much to say about what happened. The Rojas family, who did not have any friends in court was decimated, and the few survivors were left to the peasants to do as they pleased. Very few survived, and the ones who did were despised and hated for generations, leaving the Rojas surname as an example of the brutality and inhumanity of the medieval nobility in the extremadura, the harsh piece of land bordering the Moorish states...


P.D; The Jew "legend" is actually quite possibly true, it's said that my surname comes from the Jews that converted to Catholicism in Toledo after they were forced to either convert or be expelled to north africa or asia minor (sephardins ).
Rojas is a rather common name in Toledo, and there was a very famous and old writer with that surname.
There were some counts of Layos with that surname and there is a Roman dam nearby, in the municipality of Mazarambroz.
 
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Calder - Norman English/Scottish

The modern derivative of the name comes from the Norman knight Hugh de Kaledour, it was known as "Cawdor" in Scotland before being re-phoeneticized by Shakespeare in Macbeth, who gained the title of Thane of Calder before becoming king. The aforementioned Sir Hugh was one of Duke William the Bastard's knights, and after the successful invasion of England, was sent north to Scotland to gain alliances for a future invasion of that country. Sir Hugh, however, went native, marrying the daughter of a local noble and settled in the areas around Inverness.

Thus, the Calder family became one of the preeminent families of Central Scotland. By 1295 they held the title of "Thane", which was the Scottish equivalent of Earl, derived from the Saxon language. In the 1300s, one of the Calder lords had a dream where he was told to build a new castle, and to put the pack of gold on a donkey's back, and wherever the donkey laid down to sleep at the end of the day would be where the castle should be built. The donkey stopped to rest beneath a thorn tree, so the castle was built around the tree, which though it is now dead, still stands to this day (http://www.cawdorcastle.com/tour/thorntree.cfm).

Sadly, the direct line came to an end in a civil war with the Barons of Kilravock in the late 1400s, when the Kilravocks aided the Campbells in abducting the infant heiress to the title, Murial, raising her with the Campbells, and eventually marrying her to the Campbell heir to gain the Calder lands. The name did not die out, however.

From uncles and cousins, the Calders received lands around Asswanly and a baronet of Nova Scotia. They supported the Jacobite uprising in 1745 which resulted in the loss of much of their land and prestige. The brothers Major General Henry and Admiral Sir Robert Calder who fought in the Napoleonic Wars were descended from this line. Sir Robert was Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis' "fleet captain" (essentially chief of staff) at his great victory at the Battle of Cape Vincent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Calder).

The best part about that is that it is almost entirely true (the donkey story is legend).
 
Kowalski

Origin: Poland

The surname Kowalski is derived from the Polish for blacksmith (“kowal”) and anvil (“kowadło”), and the Kowalski family were all traditionally blacksmiths in the town of Radzilow in north-east Poland. It gained prominence as its members began to contribute more and more to medieval society, eventually gaining estates and spreading to Galicia, Prussia, and Czechoslovakia. The members of the Kowalski family in most cases established noble houses and became powerful royal elites.
 
Kowalski

Origin: Poland

The surname Kowalski is derived from the Polish for blacksmith (“kowal”) and anvil (“kowadło”), and the Kowalski family were all traditionally blacksmiths in the town of Radzilow in north-east Poland. It gained prominence as its members began to contribute more and more to medieval society, eventually gaining estates and spreading to Galicia, Prussia, and Czechoslovakia. The members of the Kowalski family in most cases established noble houses and became powerful royal elites.
This is the only Kowalski I know:
images.jpg


;)
 
Fridolfsson

An ancient Swedish name which originates from the northern half of Sweden. It has been in my family for as long as my father, grandfather, great grandfather etc. can remember.
The name Fridolfsson is from about a century after the Ice Sheet left Sweden, even though it was not -40 C it was very cold during the winter. We still believed in Tor, Freja, Balder and
all those Gods. But especially one year there was alot of wolves, at least 3 000 wolves in Sweden, and the vikings tried everything to make the wolves stay away from the sheep and other
animals. I think that the total amount of sacrifices made were almost 1000 in total, including cows, chickens and so on.

Then one day a shaman came up with the idea that, since names
are one of the greatest powers of natures (they believed) why not name a person Fridolfsson? Fridolfsson is a combination of Frid (peace) Volf (wolf) and son (son) this would be able to
settle the gods because the name means Wolves, we mean you no harm and want to have peace!
 
Father's name: Gerovac
Not much to tell: a huge family but one of wealthiest in the village. The part of the village where they are located carries their name.

Mother's name: Jagodić
Started as soldiers in Croatia, protecting the border against Ottomans from Turks. With time rose up to ranks of Generals and later were made nobles by the Empror of Austria. Later split into two branches: one that stayed in Croatia (mine branch) and another which left for Serbia and converted to Ortodoxy. Legend says that leader of Croatian branch cast a curse to his successors, to make any marriage of theirs with a Serb infertile (whoever married a Serb never had kids thus the source of the legend).
Weakened with time and split into multiple branches and during SFRJ my branch was the poorest family in their village, tough their successors (my mother included) rose up in social ladder.

 
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"af Ballén"

A family with origin in the ancient traditions of the vikings, namely the vikings from the region of småland, this is where they came from and where they still live today.
The name "af Ballén" came into existance becous when the family was christianed and nobled they changed name and choose one from the location where they lived but instead of
using the current name for ther location they used an ancient name used in the tales of the old norse gods.
However it is not known where the exact location of this place is but it´s belived to have been somewhere around the modern day city of Jönköping.
While the family "af Ballén" used a old norse influensed name they most likely did so to honor the family as a reminder before christianity came into the family.

Now around the year 1066 is where the most found historical sources are dated from so we know a great deal about the family during this age mainly becous the family
head was the first in the family who realy took christianity seriusly and had even learned to read and write in latin.

In the year 1066 the family "af Ballén" witch was quite small at this time consisted of three members.

First and head of the family was "Christiern af Ballén" witch in the year 1066 is belived to have ben around 49 years old. "Christiern" was a man with a great faith
for the christian god and its religion, however mutch he belived in the christian faith he had a small problem witch was his indulgent side. Now as its ben told
before the family "af Ballén" consisted of three family members, now what you dident know whas that the other two family members where his children.
You see he hadent got a wife but he most surely had a lover and with this lover he had two children a son and a daughter. Now it is known that his son was his own child
but the daughter was uncertan. Here is a qouote from his diary "This daughter of mine looks nothing like me and I suspect she might not even be mine", still "Christiern"
took care of the female child just like he did his son. you see, he loved his lover and wold if he could marry his childrens mother but resons like she being a commoner
beliving in the old norse religion and other problems that are unknown affected him and he darred not to marry her. Her name is known thanks to Christiern´s extensive use of a diary it was "Asa".
"Christiern" is known to have been a fairly good millitary strategist and a good meele fighter with an axe.

Second in the family was "Erik af Ballén" he was the first child and only son of "Christiern", a quite deal is known about "Erik".
"Erik" was aged 21 in the year 1066 and he was verry similar to his father during this age. He was quite fond of millitary strategy and he was even better than his father
at this. He was also a good fighter especialy on a horse. One thing that differed "Erik" from his father was that "Erik" wasent a bigg beliver like his father, his father
even mentions in his diary that "the boy shows no intrest in religion at all". Altho "Erik" is the heir of his father it is comonly known that he is a Bastard.

Third and last in the family is "Helena af Ballén" first and only daughter of "Christiern". Around the year 1066 she was aged 17 and just like her father she was interested
in the religion of christianity.


The lover of "Christiern" "Asa" is described in the diary of "Christiern" as a beutiful woman with brown hair and brown eyes witch makes us belive that the children
of the two had Brown eyes and brown hair. It is also belived that Asa`s family had ben brught to småland as slaves during the viking era. Most likely are they somewhere
from the region betwen modern Poland and Ukrain.

From what is read in the diary of "Christiern" the heraldry of the family consists of a "Lion rampant" in the colures blue(azure) other colures suposevly in the coat of arms
are read and yellow. Unknown if there might have ben some black or white as whell but some believe it did other historians deny it.



Other than these sources there are not mutch known about this family, most information comes from the diary of "Christiern" and no evidences shows that any other family member
was wrighting a diary or any other now existing document of the era.



THE END! :)

Its both fictional and some parts are taken from things around my life.
 
Sinclair (or Mac na Ceardadh, if you prefer the Gaelic), from the village of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in Normandy whence we came.
A Norman name that became the name of a Highland Scottish clan. We came over with William the Conqueror, but then the family went north with St. Margaret of Scotland, and ended up as barons in Midlothian, Caithness, and Orkney. We seem to have been extraordinarily talented at dying in every single war the Scots fought, with probably the strangest death being that of Sir William Sinclair at the battle of Teba in Granada in 1330, who died wielding the sword Robert the Bruce used at Bannockburn, in the failed attempt to bring the Bruce's heart to the Holy Land. His descendant Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, is supposed to have been a secret Templar who sailed to North America in 1398 in pursuit of glory and hopes of being immortalized in a future Dan Brown book, in which, sadly, he has been thus far disappointed. We kept dying and picking the losing side in every civil disturbance in Scotland until 1745 (supporting Mary Queen of Scots, Charles I, Charles II, and the Old Pretender), when we finally got on the right side and fought on behalf of the Hanoverians at Culloden. Apparently the 500-strong Sinclair contingent strongly considered switching sides, just in order to fight the hated MacKays, but eventually decided that it would be nice to be on the winning side for once. Our chief is still the Earl of Caithness (the 20th, in fact).
 
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