What's in A Name

Shade of the Linden Trees

What's in a name? When John Lindskoog's grandfather Peterson moved from Sweden to Minnesota he had trouble getting his mail because there were too many Petersons. So he switched to the rarest Swedish name he could think of: Lindskoog, which means "shade of the Linden trees." (Skoog is from Swedish skugga, meaning shade.)

In 1959 Kathryn Stillwell married John Lindskoog. One of her favorite spots on earth happens to be ancient Winchester Cathedral in England, where the path to the entrance leads through the lacy shade of its large old Linden trees.

In 1965 John and Kathryn Lindskoog arranged to meet a Wycliffe missionary to Equador named John Lindskoog. (He was from a Lindskoog family in Turlock, California, world-famous among turkey-breeders.) When they said "We're glad to meet a real John Lindskoog!" he answered, "My grandfather Anderson moved from Sweden to Chicago and couldn't get his mail because there were too many Andersons, so he switched to Lindskoog, the rarest Swedish name he could think of."

To her surprise, in the 1970s Kathryn Lindskoog was named a contributing editor to the Reformed Journal, a periodical in the Dutch Reformed tradition. She had no idea then that Lindskoog is also a rare Dutch name. Years later, she realized that some people get the false impression that she has Dutch heritage. (She is neither Dutch nor Swedish.)

In 1979 Kathryn spoke at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, and there she met an Iowa psychology professor named Don Lindskoog. When she told him she was glad to meet a real Lindskoog at last, he explained that his great-grandfather Carlson moved from Sweden to Minnesota and couldn't get his mail because there were too many Carlsons, and so he switched to Lindskoog, the rarest Swedish name he could think of.

But a few genuine Lindskoogs do exist. There used to be a total of five in the Stockholm phone book, including variants Lindskog and Lindskoug. And the Lindskoog florist shop in Minneapolis belongs to a genuine Lindskoog family. Carl Lindskoog, the original owner, arrived in the US with that name. (I'm amused that his son Don, father of the present Minneapolis flower shop owner, was adopted. So Don and his son Dick have no more genuine Lindskoog genes than my sons do.)

Ironically, there are several great-granddaughters but only two great-grandsons of the Swedish immigrant named Peterson/Lindskoog: John and Kathryn Lindskoog's adopted sons, Jonathan (mainly Irish) and Peter (mainly Dutch). So these two non-Swedes are the only family members who will carry on the name "shade of the Linden trees."