Are you sure your name is Erwin?

I did a doubletake yesterday while watching Austria v. Germany in the Euro 2008 Football Championship, and it definitely wasn't because the Germans played so well.

Meet Erwin Hoffer, member of the Austrian national soccer team!

Wtf? This guy's name is Erwin? Well then I believe in miracles...

Maybe now I should take back all those awful things I said about mustaches and Dresden accents. Erwin Hoffer has shattered the Erwin mold!

After a quick background check, I found out that he actually goes by his nickname "Jimmy". Heck, I would too.

My name is Erwin-le

Here's a shout-out to Uncle Mike who just sent me a link to his genealogy website. I had always known that my mother's father's family came from Germany, but no one could ever narrow it down further than "southern" Germany. Thanks to the website I know now that they came from Münklingen, a small town in Schwabenländle!

The look on Flo's face told me I should probably not be too excited about this. Swabians are after all the laughingstock of the nation, known among other things for their stinginess. No one wants to be a Schwab. Not even my co-worker, who technically is from Schwaben and likes bargins (günstig!), wants to be called a Schwab.

Considering this, Flo's reaction was understandable. "You're a Prussian AND a Schwab!?" For a Bavarian possibly the worst combination ever. Poor guy. He was just getting used to Prussia and now this...