Not about the sandwiches, this time
May 22, 2011 12:20 PM Subscribe
Question about the Swedish surname Ander, inspired by the Henning Mankell novel The Fifth Woman (spoilers, I guess for those who really care about these kinds of things, but not really)
In this novel, the murderer has the surname Ander. Kurt Wallander, the main character, comments to himself, "Ander was an unusual surname. It figured in the history of Swedish crime, although he couldn't recall how." And then that thread is dropped.
I tried to google this name and its possible meaning, but haven't found anything, mostly because my searches tend to pull up the name "Anders."
Does anyone know if this line is a reference to a real person, and who it might be? Also, is there any significance to the fact that Wallander's last name contains "Ander"?
In this novel, the murderer has the surname Ander. Kurt Wallander, the main character, comments to himself, "Ander was an unusual surname. It figured in the history of Swedish crime, although he couldn't recall how." And then that thread is dropped.
I tried to google this name and its possible meaning, but haven't found anything, mostly because my searches tend to pull up the name "Anders."
Does anyone know if this line is a reference to a real person, and who it might be? Also, is there any significance to the fact that Wallander's last name contains "Ander"?
Response by poster: Thank you! I'll be bringing this up in the next inevitable "How fast has your question been answered?" Meta thread.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 12:28 PM on May 22, 2011
posted by Ideal Impulse at 12:28 PM on May 22, 2011
Response by poster: Baffling--I did, too, and at least the first 8 pages of results contain nothing related to that story.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 12:45 PM on May 22, 2011
posted by Ideal Impulse at 12:45 PM on May 22, 2011
According to Statistics Sweden, 460 people in Sweden have Ander as their surname.
Several members of the Ander family (Google translated page) own a chain of regional and local newspapers.
There is no connection between the surnames Ander and Wallander, many Swedish surnames have the suffix "-ander".
posted by iviken at 2:44 AM on May 23, 2011
Several members of the Ander family (Google translated page) own a chain of regional and local newspapers.
There is no connection between the surnames Ander and Wallander, many Swedish surnames have the suffix "-ander".
posted by iviken at 2:44 AM on May 23, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:24 PM on May 22, 2011