Great story. Your surname has an even greater special meaning then :o)


>Strictly translated, it means "the pale", as the one whose skin is light colored.
>
>But in eality the name is derived from a place in Norway called Bleiken where my grandfather spent a few years before he met my grandmother. He was in conflict with his family, and wanted to create a distance by changing his surname. He liked the place Bleiken very much, and changed his surname to Bleken, to create a permanent connection to that place.
>
>>So what does Bleken mean? :o)
>>
>>>Surnames related to nature is very common in Scandinavia.
>>>
>>>>How I manage to keep a surname dealing with forests, woods, or trees is surprising :o)
>>>>
>>>>>>It's been a joke in my family since I married a Holzer :o) I've had the Holzer lastname since then and I kept it after the divorce so I share the same lastname as my daughter. Holzer in German means to fell trees or perhaps woods some tell me. Very close to Skogen! :o)
>>>>>
>>>>>Close. Zu holzen means to fell trees. But after checking carefully with my German dictionary, I think that Holzer in fact is plural for Holz. So we don't have to fool in this case. Holzer means many trees, and many trees is a skog, in Norwegian.
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I just realized something funny with your "new" last name.
>>>>>>>Holz = In German "Holz" means "tree".
>>>>>>>Er: In Norwegian "er" in the end of a noun, means that it's plural.
>>>>>>>So if you combine German and Norwegian, you can say that Holzer means many trees which is a forest. And in Norwegian Skogen means the forest. Coincidence? :-))
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>One of the reasons I picked it. I'm a Skogen :o)