Genealogy Articles

Prior to records being kept, people had one name, such as Mary, Elisabeth, Johan, or Erik.  When it became necessary to distinguish among individuals with the same name, descriptive information was usually added to the name.  For example, Erik the smith, Erik the son of Johan, or Erik from Boras.

The use of primary patronyms[1] instead of hereditary surnames was common in Sweden and other Nordic countries until 1901 when permanent, hereditary surnames became mandatory.  And, prior to 1901 when a Nordic woman married she did not change her name.  (Name laws have changed again making it possible for people to go back to using patronyms or matronyms instead of hereditary surnames.)

Patronyms are formed by adding the suffix of either “son” or “dotter” (meaning daughter) to the genitive form[2]of the father’s name.  In this case, the genitive form is typically the suffix “s” without an apostrophe.  In other words, patronyms are formed by adding an “s” to the end of the father’s name and then adding either “son” or “dotter” depending upon the gender of the child.  Examples:

Germans from the Hanseatic League (Hanse) were the first to introduce hereditary surnames to the Swedes.  Swedish Nobility adopted surnames before others in Sweden.  These newly created surnames consisted of both Swedish and German elements, and were often created from symbols of the family coat of arms.  For example, Glyenhammer (meaning “golden hammer”).  Other examples are Cronhielm, Cederström, Ulfsparre, and Anckarsvärd.

Wealthy land owners followed by members of the middle class of Swedes began adopting surnames in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.  Next merchants and townspeople adopted surnames.  Eventually the rural population began using surnames.  But instead of nobility names, they often used “ornamental names”.  In the beginning the ornamental name was often used as an address rather than a surname. 

Ornamental names consisted of 2 elements and combined randomly.  The first element was often taken from a farm name[3].  Frequently the farm name was added to the given name and the patronym.

Examples:

Hilder Eriksdotter who lived on a farm named Holmeseth married Gier Petersson who lived on a farm named Blomhaugen.

If the married couple lived on the Holmeseth farm their names would have been:

 If the couple lived on the Blomhaugen farm their names would have been:

Later, ornamental names were formed by combining farm names with other name components usually related to nature.  Some names appeared to describe a real landscape, but the name components were arbitrarily combined.   

Examples of typical Swedish ornamental names are:  Lindberg, Lindgren, Lundqvist, Sandberg, Forsberg, Bergström, Lindström, Bergman, Holmberg, Bergqvist, Eklund, and Bergman.

In the mid to late 19th century conventions for surnames changed. The patronymic system gradually disappeared and was replaced with a family last name system in all three Scandinavian countries:

  - Denmark during 1828-1904

  - Sweden around 1900

  - Norway in 1923

When this change occurred, some families may have chosen to freeze the father's patronymic surname and carry it forward through multiple generations. However, siblings may have chose different surnames. Also, some women began using the -son suffix rather than the -dotter suffix, and some women began taking their husband's surname upon marriage. 

When Denmark, Sweden and Norway mandated hereditary surnames, many people just froze their primary patronym so their children could inherit it.  Others decided to adopt the farm name or the ornamental name as the hereditary surname.  But, the majority of Swedish surnames are patronymic.

Footnotes:

[1] patronym: “A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one’s father, grandfather, or an earlier male ancestor.  A component of a name based on the name of one’s mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic.  A name based on the name of one’s child is a teknonymic or paedonymic.  Each is a means of conveying lineage.  Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, although their use has largely been replaced by or transformed into patronymic surnames. Examples of such transformations include common English surnames such as Johnson (son of John).”

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronymic

[2] The genitive form or genitive case is the grammatical case for nouns and pronouns that shows possession.  Typically the genitive case is formed by adding an apostrophe followed by an “s” to the end of a noun.

[3] Farm names and ornamental names originally functioned as an address rather than a surname and were added to the given name and the patronym.