Finnish Naming Fail

[kyrasantae]

So at work I've been secretly keeping a little slip of paper with a tally count of how many Finnish names I've seen. They're not that common, and I consider myself decent at picking them out. Only thing is, it's usually very very disappointing, because I might see a Finnish surname, and then the given names will be English. The other day I saw someone named Lehtinen, and he had, I think, three given names. And none of them were Finnish. I mean, seriously, they had THREE chances to get it right and they blew it. SO disappointing.

But finally, today, after 20+ disappointments, there was FINALLY someone with a completely Finnish name. I've already forgotten what the surname was¹, but Kai is a totally awesome first name, because of ...that movie.


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¹ Actually, it might have been Pitkänen.

Comments

[nt-confidential.livejournal.com]

It's a lovely language and all, but I don't see a compelling reason why the linguistic origins of given names and surnames need to match. In fact, it's more fun when they don't.

Also (and the Finnish surnames in your post brought this to mind), try the NHL.

[kyrasantae.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, in Finland, if you are of Finnish heritage (and have such a surname), you must have Finnish names for your children. That kind of consistency appeals to me, just as I hated having to do mixed media pieces in art class.