My great-grandfather came over a little over one hundred years ago from Sweden. Our last name is "Benson", mostly, I'm just wondering if that's a popular name over there ... ? (I guess). I dunno.

And are there a lot of tall blondes there abouts?

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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
****
"The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families."
--Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?

Anyway, assuming that the Scadenavian (sp) surnames share a similar structure, the original version of your last name may be Bensen. Now to explain. The Norwegians until recently did not use the surname to denote family lineages. Instead, it typically denoted who the person's father or mother was. The son, for instance, would have the first name Johan. Johan's father's first name is Hans. Johan would adopt his father's first name, add the suffix -sen to it, and use that as his surname: Johan Hansen or Johan, Son of Hans. The daughters did something similar, but I cannot recall if they used the mother's or the father's first name to start with. Regardless, the suffix -darter would be used in place of -sen ("daughter of").

From what my friend has told me, this trend of adopting lineage surnames is a fairly recent development in Norway. It started sometime in the 19th century there. The trend probably started when Norwegians first came to settle in North America in an effort to assimilate into the cultures (18th to early 19th centuries).

Of course, everything I've said can be shot out of a cannon if Swedish surname history and structure differs from the Norwegian tradition.

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Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!

Others are Svensson, Jansson (like danish Janssen or Jensen) Larsson (You have that too), Jonsson, J�nsson. There are many variations. But -son is more of a stereotype swedish name. Actually our version of "average joe" is in fact "medel-svensson".

Other famous swedish names are anything with -quist, -blom, blad (leaf), -berg, lind(-). We have many names based on flowers and trees (kvist means twig/branch).
Well, there's a lot.
First names. The latin ones are fairly common; Peter, Markus, Joakim, Pontus, David etc. The hardcore swedish (ancient nordic) names are like, Erik, T(h)or, Jan, J�ns, Johan, Anders, Bj�rn, Sten, Bjarne (swedish variant on Bj�rn). There's a lot.

The word "Dot" is called "punkt" or "prick" in swedish. There's an old kneeslapper there, referring to our extra three letters ���. "No, I'm not Jonsson, I'm J�nsson, with two pricks!"

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Here lies a toppled god,
His turnip not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

We have tall blondes, although many dye their hair, like in the rest of the western world. And no, there aren't more bimbos here, the average na�vite is not higher among girls here, than anywere else.
Victoria Silvstedt has been in Playboy for a while, but she's inflatable as hell. No fun, too plastic. Plus, she IS a bimbo.

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His turnip not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

Niklas Peterson, eh?

TO THE BAT-COMPUTER!! The punch cards will tell us where he is!

Wait, Boy Wonder. The turnips will be avenged, but not in the way "Nimrod" thinks.
Alfred! Get me the Ringmaster of the Gotham State Circus - I have an idea that he may have access to the one thing that our Mr. Peterson wants more than anything...

DA-DA-da-Da-DAAAA

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"Sack me!? I MADE the BBC!!"

And I'm curious about this "-darter". I'd always seen this as "-dottir". Just a difference between two Scandinavian languages again?

Where did you get -darter from? The Icelandic "dottir" means daughter, just as the swedish "dotter".

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His turnip not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram

The Swedes!

*pauses, reads thread*

Oh, I'm sorry - I thought you were making a toast. 8)

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"I rather strongly disagree, even if I share the love of Dick. Speaking of which, that would be the most embarrasing .sig quote ever, so never use it."

------------------
Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
****
"The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families."
--Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?

------------------
Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!

I think you've just become England's favourite nation.

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"Borg? Sounds Swedish!" -- Lily Sloane

The swedish spirit-culture is rather wide, our northern plains have provided us with potatoes and turnips to make snaps with that'll make a grown man cry, and it's indispensable on our midsummer's feast, together with the herring.
Our ales and beers hold their own.
Our "Absolut"-line of Vodkas speak for themselves (I recommend a Kaprinushka-cocktail made on Vodka, wow).

(Anecdote-time, gather around, children) From the 60's up until about ten years ago, though, the beer was not-so-good. They put many substitutes and preservatives in it, making for lesser quality. Many men who had worked on the distilleries their whole life, and had been surviving on drinking protein- and vitamin-filled beer all day, (maybe a hotdog in the evening) suddenly started dying like flies in the 60's/70's. It was discovered the substitutes were to blame...

We have a fine tradition of ciders, the biggest names dating from the mid-1700's, and there are good ports and wines too.
One of the nice traditions of swedish christmas is the Gl�gg, a red wine heated and flavoured with some spices and decorated with raisins and scalded almonds, making for a really warming experience. Kind of like austrian Gl�hwein, only more sophisticated. It can be about 14-15% sometimes, so you have to watch it when you start harassing the children.

We have our christmas-must also, not alcoholic, but very good on the christmas-table nonetheless. Like a somewhat sweet, rich and dark hops-taste, without the bitterness.
We don't have mead anymore, though, the vikings took that with them to the grave. There are some secluded manufacturers in poland and estonia, but they make like 1000 barrels a year, and getting rich on it. There are, like, two places in Stockholm that are on the list...

------------------
Here lies a toppled god,
His turnip not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

-Tleilaxu Epigram