GingerNinja.net

As only some family and friends are aware, my great-great-grandfather changed his name from Sepke Ykema to Charlie Ikel when he emigrated from Friesland in the north of the Netherlands (Holland) as he thought it would be easier for the English to pronounce. How wrong he was! Incidentally, he chose Charlie as that was his nick-name on the docks. None of his East London co-workers could say Sepke correctly, so they called him Charlie instead and it stuck.

Anyway, did a quick search on Facebook for Ykema to see how common it is. There are LOADS of them in the US and Canada, but I am guessing that they are probably not related. Having said that, I don’t know about much about Charlie’s brothers or sisters so it may be possible.

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