Escutcheon of the Gyllenhaal family from 1652Gyllenhaal family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyllenhaal_familyGyllenhaal is a Swedish noble family descended from the cavalry
Lieutenant Nils Gunnarsson Haal (d. 1680 or 1681), ennobled in 1652 with a change of surname to Gyllenhaal.
Family historyNils Gunnarsson Gyllenhaal's descendants today stem from two of his sons;
Lars Gyllenhaal b. 1645 d. 1710, Lieutenant of the
Vestgotha cavalry regiment, and his younger brother
Hans Gyllenhaal b. 1655 d. 1710. Hans was killed in action at the battle of
Helsingborg as a cavalry captain.
The members of the older branch descending from Lars are still living in Sweden. The most notable member of that branch is the above mentioned
Prime Minister for Justice Lars Herman Gyllenhaal. In 1851 he was created
Knight and Commander of the Royal Order of the Seraphim. His great-great grandson
Herman Gyllenhaal till Haerlingstorp b. 1934, is now the baron of the family and his son, the above-mentioned Lars Gyllenhaal, is now the head of both branches of the noble family Gyllenhaal.
All the members of the family in the United States are descended from Hans Gyllenhaal and come from his great great-great grandson
Anders Leonard b.1842 d. 1905 and his wife
Amanda b.
Nelson b.1859 d.1948.
Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal immigrated to the United States in 1866. The hitherto most memorable member of this younger branch was
Leonard Gyllenhaal (1752-1840). He was in 1807 created a
Knight of the Royal Order of Vasa for his scientific work as an entomologist, including his monograph of Swedish insects,
Insecta Suecia descripta.
Family name The spelling of the name Gyllenhaal caused problems right from the beginning. Its origin is clear: Nils Gunnarsson Gyllenhaal's father was
Gunne Olofsson Haal from
Hahlegården, a crown homestead in
South Härene Parish in the county of
Västergötland in
West Sweden. "Haal" comes from the name of the farm "Hahlegården", with different spelling. This confusion was mirrored in Nils' ennoblement: In the
Knighthood Letter, signed by
Queen Christina, the family name was written in two different ways — first "Gyllenhahl" and then "Gyllenhaal". On the copperplate with his coat of arms now hanging in the
House of Nobles (
Riddarhuset) in
Stockholm it is spelled "Gyllenhahl".[7]
The prefix "Gyllen", i.e. "Golden", was the one most used when ennobling someone since the 16th century. Jake Gyllenhaal, great-great grandson of the above-mentioned Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal, joked to an interviewer, in connection with the British première of the movie
Prince of Persia in May 2010, that his last name was pronounced "Yil-en-hoo-luh-hay", poking fun at people's difficulties with Swedish pronunciation.
Topic: Jake Jake Jake! (Read 3817377 times)