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Re: Grandfather's name
With this spelling and pronunciation it is unlikely the name has anything to do with his German ancestry. It is probably just an unusual respelling of "Galen", the name of a famous ancient Roman physician whose name may come from a Greek word meaning "calm". Galen was regularly used as a given name in the USA throughout most of the 20th century.
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Yeah, I thought it sounded really "un"-German. Thanks!
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