Number 14: “Every person has a name” Our name is central to our identity. Typically, we take on our father’s surname. Some couples take on a double-barrelled surname that represents both partners. More than a double-barrel becomes clumsy!  But one surname, even if double barrelled, is just a tiny slither of who we are and cannot begin to broadly represent our family history.  There are all the stories that we heard from our parents and grandparents about where we came from and who our ancestors are.

Now it is just a “kol dmama daka” – a thin silent voice. Like the words of a song that originated in a specific place with a particular tune. We no longer know the place nor the words and we cling on to and hum what we think was the tune….

The mathematics are astounding. We each have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents. That is 4 generations. At 16 Generations, unless there are duplications, and assuming each of our ancestors had a surname, we each have 32 768 direct ancestors and therefore 32 768 different surnames!

The Dutch family archives are incredible! Through family members and research through the “My Heritage” site, we have managed to trace along a few lines, Direct Ancestors back through 16 Generations and in certain cases many more than that.

Some of these people, who were on my mother’s father’s side, lived for generations in the towns of Beja, Belmonte Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, before they were forced to flee at the time of the Portuguese Inquisition. The surnames in this section of our tree included: Alvarez;  Nunes Vaz; Falcao; Gomes; Namias de Crasto; Carilho; Querido; y Simpayo; Belmonte; Monis; d’Aguilar; De Paz; Baruch Sarphatim; Oeb Brandao; y Donaogt; de Oiro; Lopes Dias; Henriques Ferreira; de Cordova; Fidanque; Abenhacar; Pereira; Osorio; Mello; Lopes Jessurun; Texera Cartas; De Meza; Finsi; Saqui ….. The list continues.

Each of us emerges from a multitude of ancestors that have shaped our identity in a multifaceted set of ways. Exactly how, it seems to me, is in the main unconscious and a mystery!