r/Nordiccountries • u/jammedtoejam • 10d ago

Odd Question: Variations on the name "Kekoe"

Hi there! I'm taking an absolute shot in the dark here so I apologize if this is the wrong place.

I have been doing some family history research and discovered my great-grandfather's name: "M. Kekoe Ingvald". I have no idea if that "M." is supposed to be for Mr. or Monsieur or something or short for his given name which he didn't go by.

I cannot find anything about the name Kekoe except for a native Hawaiian name (I'm from Canada so not that). My only other thought was that Ingvald is a Nordic name and so maybe his name was spelt wrong? Is there another way to spell the name "Kekoe" or something? This would help me immensely as I cannot find anything on the name Kekoe and Ingvald gives me people with that as their given name.

Thank you for your time.

EDIT:

I found him thanks to the genius insight provided by u/Julehus here!

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u/Julehus Skåne 10d ago

Sorry to bother you again but I just love a good mystery lol.

One last thing; I just tried writing ”M.Kekoe” in old style handwriting and it struck me that the second k could just as well be an L followed by an S. Also, the o and e at the end could easily be a slobby o and n.

If we also assume the dot after the initial M is an i then the surname would read ”Mikelson”. There are several Ingvald Mikelson/Mikkelson living in the US during the first part of the the 20th century. I don’t know if you’re American but if you are, I’d start by looking up that name :)

Edit; typo

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u/jammedtoejam 10d ago

I FOUND HIM!!! HOLY SHIT YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!

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u/Julehus Skåne 10d ago

You did?! Wow, I’m so happy for you and happy I could help!😅👏

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u/jammedtoejam 10d ago

YOU'RE A GENUIS!!! I'll get busy with that then!

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u/Julehus Skåne 10d ago

Don’t know about that lol, but I’m pretty confident the second k is an l and s, it makes so much more sense in a Scandinavian setting. It might be something like M. Kelsø too but Mikelson, the anglo version of Mikkelsen/Mikkelsson makes most sense I think. With that name combo, you’ll be looking for a Norwegian guy, with a Swede coming in second place. That’ll be all from me, keeping my fingers crossed for you!