My surname originates in East Prussia. We were originally von Thrane, but our forefather chose to get rid of von, because of the connection it gave to Germany. We were removed from East Prussia during ethnic cleansing before WWI. My forefather moved to the now nothern Germany close to the Danish boarder. The boarder moved to it's present location and his family was again in Germany, so he chose to move to Copenhagen to make sure that they would stay on Danish soil.