The name "Carl"

[Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr.]

Hi all!

In a previous mail someone stated that because "Carl" is a usual name in
Sweden that would make Carl Barks a Swede by following my logic. This is off
course *not* correct.

Some names are typical for one language or one group of languages. Examples:
Sigvald = Scandinavian
Horst = German
Francois = French
Bart = Dutch/Flemish
Vladimir = Russian

Other names are widely uses in many languages. Examples:
Carl
Hans
Jakob
John
Michael

So a person named Carl can be American as well as Swedish or Danish or
Norwegian or Dutch or German for that matter. But as Charles is the way that
name is written in its English language way, it is not unlikely that
Americans named Carl are of continental or Scandinavian origin.

Sigvald