The following is an extract of a correspondence I had late last year with the well know Author Prof. Jukka Gronow, regarding the surname Gronow, which can be found in Eastern Europe. He very kindly allowed me to publish it here, for which I am most grateful.
“Even though I live in Sweden, I and my family come from Finland. In Finland there are several – about half a dozen families – Gronow’s which, however are all related to each other. I do not know of anyone else in Sweden or Norway.
Our family – from my father’s side – comes from Russia where they, in the 19th century, moved from Finland which was part of Russia then. All the remaining Gronow’s in Russia are our relatives. As far I know there are not that many left any more, the cousin of my father’s died a couple of weeks ago in Moscow at the age of 92 without leaving any children behind, but there might be some relatives left in the far east, Vladivostok region, I’ve heard. We have however, had no contacts with them, after their father, my father’s uncle, died in the 1960’s. As so many Russian families, ours drifted apart after the Revolution.
As far as I know the name of my family was originally Gronovius and can be dated back to a student at the University at Turku Academy (or Aabo Academy in the Swedish) in the early 17th century who took this name when entering the academic life. Most Finns did not have any real surnames at that time at all, and this was a very common practice, that is to take an “invented” Latin name. The name was “Swedified” in the 18th century to Gronow (In the 18th century many Latin names were Swedified in Sweden-Finland was part of Sweden at that time and Swedish was the language of the upper classes and administration.) When my relatives went to Russia to serve in the Tsar’s army this name fitted well because it sounds like an ordinary Russian name – they often end in ow (as transliterated into German) or off (as it is written in the French form). But it is extremely rare in Russia (not to be confused with Gromow which is very common and very “Russian”, comes from the word “thunder”) Gronow does not mean anything in Russian. But many Russians still take me for a Russian because of the form of my name.
I have heard that there are more Gronow’s in Wales and the Netherlands (Gronoviuses too in the Netherlands) – and presumably in other places of the world too – I remember being very well treated – with some curiosity – when booking in some little hotels in Wales, for instance.” Jukka Gronow 17th Nov 2006.
“Even though I live in Sweden, I and my family come from Finland. In Finland there are several – about half a dozen families – Gronow’s which, however are all related to each other. I do not know of anyone else in Sweden or Norway.
Our family – from my father’s side – comes from Russia where they, in the 19th century, moved from Finland which was part of Russia then. All the remaining Gronow’s in Russia are our relatives. As far I know there are not that many left any more, the cousin of my father’s died a couple of weeks ago in Moscow at the age of 92 without leaving any children behind, but there might be some relatives left in the far east, Vladivostok region, I’ve heard. We have however, had no contacts with them, after their father, my father’s uncle, died in the 1960’s. As so many Russian families, ours drifted apart after the Revolution.
As far as I know the name of my family was originally Gronovius and can be dated back to a student at the University at Turku Academy (or Aabo Academy in the Swedish) in the early 17th century who took this name when entering the academic life. Most Finns did not have any real surnames at that time at all, and this was a very common practice, that is to take an “invented” Latin name. The name was “Swedified” in the 18th century to Gronow (In the 18th century many Latin names were Swedified in Sweden-Finland was part of Sweden at that time and Swedish was the language of the upper classes and administration.) When my relatives went to Russia to serve in the Tsar’s army this name fitted well because it sounds like an ordinary Russian name – they often end in ow (as transliterated into German) or off (as it is written in the French form). But it is extremely rare in Russia (not to be confused with Gromow which is very common and very “Russian”, comes from the word “thunder”) Gronow does not mean anything in Russian. But many Russians still take me for a Russian because of the form of my name.
I have heard that there are more Gronow’s in Wales and the Netherlands (Gronoviuses too in the Netherlands) – and presumably in other places of the world too – I remember being very well treated – with some curiosity – when booking in some little hotels in Wales, for instance.” Jukka Gronow 17th Nov 2006.
3 comments:
Hi my names Bethan Gronow and your right there are hundreds of Gronow's in South Wales. I'm trying to trace my family tree and i can tell you its hard going. Just thought i'd let you know anyways, Bethan.
Just thinking about it if out could help me out with my family treethat would be great. My e mail address is ivorymoonlight1@yahoo.co.uk.
Hello there,
I have noticed this information about Gronow family and I could share some interesting information about Gronow/Gronoff families in Finland.
If this is interesting, just let me know.
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