Hi, I am a Norwegian now living in Australia. I am married to a lady from Tuvalu – and our son was almost named Laban after one of my wife’s anchestors – Peter Laban (but that name does not go well in Norway – it means rascal and is also the name of a jellybean!). Peter Laban was from Denmark. He was the manager of the German kopra plantation on Nukulaelae in Tuvalu – before he and his Tuvaluan wife Samilia moved to Samoa (some time after 1863). He had a son named William and a daughter named Emma (my wife’s name is Emma – she obviously had her name from Peter Laban’s daughter, in Tuvalu they spell Emma with one m). William moved, as far as I have been able to trace, to Australia – close to where we are living now!
Winnie Laban, the NZ-minister, is also related to Peter Laban. It is interesting to read that Dough in USA is the son of a Jack Siaki Laban. Siaki is the name of my wife’s uncle in Tuvalu – obviously also after (Jack) Peter Laban.
I have just been doing some more research on my wife’s family – that how I came across you on the internet (http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.laban/7/mb.ashx).
Regards
Terje "Terry" Dahl terje@sydhav.no