Eshin Direct

I had a go at my friend the other night who was having a go at his cousin once removed (and in Chinese custom, that makes him her uncle). He was having a go at her for not knowing her maternal great grandmother’s name. I still thought it wasn’t on until the point was made that her great grandmother was my friend’s grandmother, and that she should know.

Anyway, I was having drinks with him last night and I realized how poor my knowledge was of my own family. I sort of knew my maternal grandparent’s names (since they were alive) but had no real clue to my paternal grandparents names (I never met them, see). Of course, I could have worked it out since the older people in my family follow the Dutch custom of being named after various grandparents and parents. It’s apparently not so simple, but reduces the no. of people one is likely to be named after. The buck stopped with the younger people (in fact most people) in my generation.

Well, a quick call to my folks and the situation was rectified. I now know the names of my paternal grandparents, where they fell in the generally large families that Dutch people used to have, and generally discovered that I’d have to walk around with a book if I knew all the names of the people in my family.