Namesakes

Dear Reader, let me introduce you to Martin Rundkvist.

Martin has trained as a seaman and worked as a chef. The 26-year-old is now a teacher at the Nakkebølle boarding school for troubled teens on southern Funen in Denmark. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him.

Danish Martin is the only person I'm aware of who spells his name just like mine. There are at least five more Martin Rund**ists in Sweden, living in Borensberg, Tibro, Norrköping, Staffanstorp and Hjo. But they spell their surnames Rundquist, Rundqvist and Rundqwist. There used to be one in the Stockholm area too, but he changed his surname -- gasping with relief, one imagines.

Funny how unimportant a name is as long as it blends in with the surrounding flora. Martin Rundkvist, Mattias Sundkvist, Markus Lindkvist, whatever. Danish Martin's name, though, must look slightly odd to his compatriots, a bit like if I were named Ole Krag Nielsen.