- Scandinavian family name etymology
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Heritable family names were generally adopted rather late within Scandinavia. Nobility were the first to take names that would be passed on from one generation to the next. Later, clergy, artisans and merchants in cities took heritable names. Family names (surnames) were still used together with primary patronyms (father's name plus an affix denoting relationship), which were used by all social classes. This meant that most families until modern times did not have surnames. Scandinavian patronyms were generally derived from the father's given name with the addition of a suffix meaning 'son' or 'daughter'. This naming tradition remained commonly used throughout the Scandinavian countries during the time of surname formation.[1] Forms of the patronymic suffixes -son, -sen, -sson, -zen, -zon/zoon, and -ssen
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Denmark
The most common Danish family name surnames are patronymic and end in-sen; for example Rasmussen originally meaning "son of Rasmus". Descendants of Danish or Norwegian immigrants to the United States frequently have similar names ending in the suffix "-sen" or have changed the spelling to "-son". Approximately one-third of the Danish population bear one of the ten most common surnames. More than two-thirds have a patronym ending in -sen in their full name. Many of these patronymics are, however, very rare, local or testimony of unusual descent, e.g. Heilesen from Northern Jutland, Holdensen and Boldsen from the former Duchy of Schleswig or Israelsen and Nathansen taken by early Jewish immigrants. Common etymological classes of surnames are occupational (e.g., Møller - miller, Schmidt - smith, Fisker - fisher) and toponyms, for example names taken after a village or farmstead inhabited by ancestors.
The first naming act in Denmark was issued in 1526 and made heritable names compulsory for nobility. Other higher class people took heritable surnames during the following centuries, clergy often Latinized names (e.g. Pontoppidan made from Broby) and artisans often Germanized names. Naming acts applying to all citizens were issued 1771 (for the Duchy of Schleswig only) and in 1828. The rural population only reluctantly gave up the traditional primary patronyms. Several naming acts replaced the first; in 1856, 1904, 1961, 1981, 2005. The result of the first act was that most people took a patronymic surname as their heritable family name, with the overwhelming dominance of a few surnames as a consequence. Later acts have attempted to motivate people to change to surnames that would allow safer identification of individuals.
In the table, the top surnames in Denmark are listed as of 1971[2] and 2009[3]. The general tendency over the past century has been to give up the commonest names and adopt less frequently-used ones.
Rank Surname Number of bearers 1971 Number of bearers 2009 Type Etymology 1 Jensen 368.631 278.782 patronymic son of Jens 2 Nielsen 349.126 275.744 patronymic son of Niels 3 Hansen 297.937 231.221 patronymic son of Hans 4 Pedersen 203.426 173.639 patronymic son of Peder 5 Andersen 188.359 165.871 patronymic son of Anders 6 Christensen 159.943 125.192 patronymic son of Christen 7 Larsen 148.214 122.712 patronymic son of Lars 8 Sørensen 139.111 117.300 patronymic son of Søren 9 Rasmussen 117.355 99.238 patronymic son of Rasmus 10 Jørgensen 110.132 93.182 patronymic son of Jørgen 11 Petersen 130.236 85.268 patronymic son of Peter 12 Madsen 76.441 67.075 patronymic son of Mads 13 Kristensen 58.990 62.549 patronymic son of Kristen 14 Olsen 65.194 50.904 patronymic son of Ole 15 Thomsen 40.180 39.860 patronymic son of Thomas 16 Christiansen 45.984 38.528 patronymic son of Christian 17 Poulsen 36.544 33.106 patronymic son of Poul 18 Johansen 36.470 32.166 patronymic son of Johan 19 Knudsen 34.660 30.634 patronymic son of Knud 20 Møller 31.645 30.516 occupational miller Norway
The most common Norwegian surnames were originally patronymic, commonly ending with the suffixes "-ssen", "-sson", "-sdatter", "-sdotter" which is the genitive s plus the word sen or son for son or datter or dotter for daughter. The genitive s was often dropped; compare Hanssen and Hansen. In 1923, it was ordered by law that each family should have a single, hereditary last name. Surnames derived from placenames commonly originated as farm names. Most families took a patronymic name, but some adopted a farm name.[4]. Today, the patronymic names are increasingly being left for the typonyms; 22.4% of the Norwegian population had a "-sen"-name in 2009, while the share is down to 18.4% for the newborns of 2009 [5].
The most common Norwegian surnames would include many names which originated as farm names: Bakke/Bakken (hill or rise), Berg/Berge (mountain or hill), Dahl/Dal (valley), Haugen/Haugan (hill or mound), Lie (side of a valley), Moen (meadow), or Rud (clearing).[6]
The listing of 20 most common Norwegian surnames[7]:
Rank Surname Number of bearers 2008 Type Etymology 1 Hansen 56.228 patronymic son of Hans 2 Johansen 52.461 patronymic son of Johan 3 Olsen 52.184 patronymic son of Ole 4 Larsen 39.425 patronymic son of Lars 5 Andersen 38.433 patronymic son of Anders 6 Pedersen 36.362 patronymic son of Peder 7 Nilsen 36.324 patronymic son of Nils 8 Kristiansen 24.310 patronymic son of Kristian 9 Jensen 23.836 patronymic son of Jens 10 Karlsen 22.153 patronymic son of Karl 11 Johnsen 21.226 patronymic son of John 12 Pettersen 20.856 patronymic son of Petter 13 Eriksen 19.563 patronymic son of Erik 14 Berg 18.407 landscape mountain 15 Haugen 14.293 landscape the hill or mound 16 Hagen 14.293 landscape the enclosed pasture 17 Johannessen 13.815 patronymic son of Johannes 18 Andreassen 12.376 patronymic son of Andreas 19 Jacobsen 12.105 patronymic son of Jacob 20 Halvorsen 11.859 patronymic son of Halvor Sweden
Main article: Swedish nameThe most common surnames in Sweden are originally patronymic. Family names ending with the suffix "sson" are the most common names in Sweden. In 1901, the Names Adoption Act was passed, which abolished the patronymic practice. From 1901, everyone had to have a family name that was passed down to the next generation.
Many family names consist of items from nature, for example Lind/Lindberg (linden/lime + mountain), Berg/Bergkvist (mountain/mountain + twig), Alström/Ahlström (alder + stream), or Dahl/Dahlin (valley). Sometimes the first part of such a composite name refers to the family's place of origin e.g. the Strindberg family originating from Strinne; the second part being just ornamental. Families also frequently have military-oriented names such as Skarpsvärd (sharp sword), Sköld (shield) and Stolt (proud). Those names were originally assigned to soldiers under the military allotment system in effect from the 16th century. As in Denmark, the clergy Latinized their names up to about the 18th century, e.g. Linnaeus. Due to the greater diversity of these names each specific name is less common than most patronymic names.
The listing of 20 most commonly Swedish surnames as of December 31, 2008:[8]
Rank Surname Number of bearers 2008 Type Etymology 1 Johansson 265.308 patronymic son of Johan 2 Andersson 263.518 patronymic son of Anders 3 Karlsson 201.681 patronymic son of Karl 4 Nilsson 178.845 patronymic son of Nils 5 Eriksson 142.959 patronymic son of Erik 6 Larsson 129.275 patronymic son of Lars 7 Olsson 113.927 patronymic son of Ola 8 Persson 111.629 patronymic son of Per 9 Svensson 106.886 patronymic son of Sven 10 Gustafsson 74.432 patronymic son of Gustaf 11 Pettersson 67.519 patronymic son of Petter 12 Jonsson 59.307 patronymic son of Jon 13 Jansson 51.346 patronymic son of Jan 14 Hansson 45.009 patronymic son of Hans 15 Bengtsson 35.241 patronymic son of Bengt 16 Jönsson 34.018 patronymic son of Jöns 17 Petersson 31.332 patronymic son of Peter 18 Carlsson 29.967 patronymic son of Carl 19 Lindberg 27.344 landscape linden + hill 20 Magnusson 27.152 patronymic son of Magnus References
- ^ MyDanishRoots.com
- ^ University of Copenhagen, Unit for Name Research
- ^ Statistics Denmark
- ^ Norwegian Naming Patterns
- ^ Name statistics for 2009 (Statistics Norway, SSB)
- ^ Norwegian-American Surnames (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Volume XII: Page 1
- ^ Statistics Norway
- ^ Swedish Name Statistics
External links
- The 100 most common surnames in Denmark
- Most Common Surnames in Sweden
- Most Common Surnames in Norway
See also
- Most common surnames in Denmark
- Most common surnames in Norway
- Most common surnames in Sweden
- Most common surnames in Finland
- Most common surnames in Estonia
Categories:- Surnames
- Germanic-language surnames
- Danish-language surnames
- Norwegian-language surnames
- Swedish-language surnames
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