It is easy to stop with the easiest explanation for a name - but dig deeper. Our "Scharfe" looks German (a variant of the word means sharp, I believe) . But we found in Orkney and Ireland a different connection - Viking. The Vikings traveled and settled and plundered up and down any river and waterway they could find, apparently, and including Germany - and the Scharf is old Nordic for cormorant, with family coming from Ireland (a Viking playground as well as a place for serious settling); and Iceland in the sagas. Look up the surnames of a thousand years ago, and the meanings. See geneology posts at Ireland Roadways; and Orkney Roadways.
Go ahead. Take your name, hunt around, then go wherever you find a connection and enjoy. May be no connection at all, but fun is in the process. Don't worry about spelling differences. Even our folks in Canada added the "e" in the earliest 1900's just to make it easier for the postmaster.
Geneology.
Joke on uncle. Old name his:
Squinty cormorant.
Friday, March 02, 2007
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