User:SvareJM/Sandbox/Finland Personal Names

Introduction
Considerable confusion exists among many people with Finnish ancestry regarding how names are used in Finland and how they should be recorded. This document attempts to give background into the historical practices, legislation, and recommended best practices for recording Finnish personal and place names.

Understanding surnames and given names can help you find and identify your ancestors in genealogical records. In Finnish genealogical research, researching people with a common surname is not always productive because people often changed their surnames when they moved or for other reasons. With the growth of Finnish nationalism in the beginning of the 1900s many Swedish and other foreign sounding names were changed to Finnish names. For example, Forsman became Koskimies and Widbom became Pajula. These could be direct translations, partial translations, or completely different names.

Things To Know

 * Finnish was not the official language used in record keeping until 1883
 * During the late 19th century people began adopting fixed surnames
 * The first law requiring permanent surnames was passed in 1921
 * Most of the population used patronymic surnames which are derived from the father's given name and a suffix to identify the child's gender, -son, -dotter
 * Surnames were frequently abbreviated in records

Best Practices For Recording Names

 * Surnames which are abbreviated in the records should be recorded fully spelled out
 * Farm names indicate residence, and should be recorded as part of the event locality - not as a surname
 * If a person is found in some records with a patronymic surname and family name in other records, select one to use as the primary form and record the other as an alternate name.

Language Reforms
The Kielireskripti (Language Decree) of 1 August 1863 by Tsar Alexander II initiated a twenty year period in which Finnish would replace Swedish in all official records.

Laws on Personal Names
The first law requiring permanent surnames for all Finnish citizens was passed in 1921, with a second law pased in 1930 requiring all people to use an inherited surname.

Given Names
Many Finnish given names are derived from Biblical names, such as Taavetti (David), or the names of saints, such as Yrjö (George). Names can also be of ancient Finnish origin, (such as Ilmari or Tuulikki), or Swedish origin, (such as Sten or Knut).

When baptized, children were usually given one or two given names. It was customary to name the oldest child after the paternal grandparents, the second child after the maternal grandparents, the third after the parents, and subsequent children after godparents or other relatives. If a child died young, it was also common to name the next child of the same gender with the same name.

Naming Patterns
A specific naming pattern was very common in Finland and in other parts of Europe until about 1900. Although not always followed strictly, the following pattern may be helpful in researching family groups and determining the parents of the mother and father: • 2

If the wife's parents were deceased, or the couple were living on the wife's parents farm, her parents may have priority in the naming.

Children in the Family With the Same Name
Sometimes two or more children within a family were given the same name. In some cases it was done because an older child died and the next child of the same gender was given the name. However, two or more children by the same given name could also have lived to adulthood. Do not presume that the first child with that same given name died unless the actual death record is found.

Surnames
Before record keeping began, most people had only one name, such as Johan. As the population increased, it became necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same name. The problem was usually solved by adding descriptive information. Johan the smith became Johan Smed; Johan the son of Matts became Johan Mattsson, or Johan from Huuskotar farm became Johan Huuskoin. At first, such "surnames" applied only to one person and not to the whole family. After a few generations, these names sometimes became hereditary and were used from father to son. Before the twentieth century, women in Finland generally did not assume the husband’s surname at marriage.

Eastern and western Finland have different naming traditions. Both naming customs date back to the earliest written sources. There was frequent overlap of these practices in both areas.

Finnish birth records did not generally identify the surname for newborn infants, only the given name. In creating a surname standard for the International Genealogical Index, the surnames were assigned strictly by whether a parish is classified as a patronymic parish (western) or a fixed surname parish (eastern). Without knowing which way a parish was classified, it is best to try all known possible variations, such as patronymic, farm names, and fixed surnames, when searching Historical Records collections and the International Genealogical Index.

Following is a brief description of various types of Finnish surnames according to geographic (east-west) distributions:
 * Western Finland (Ahvenanmaa, Häme, Kymi, Turku-Pori, Uusimaa, and Vaasa Counties with the exception of certain parishes). Surnames changed from generation to generation according to the Scandinavian patronymic naming customs used in Sweden.
 * Eastern Finland (Kuopio, Lappi, Mikkeli, Oulu, and Viipuri Counties with the exception of certain parishes). Surnames did not change from generation to generation.

Western Finland
Two types of surnames were common in western Finland: patronymic and farm names. A farm name could be used in additional to a patronymic name.

Patronymic Surnames
Patronymic surnames were common throughout Finland, but most people in western Finland used only a patronymic surname. Patronymic surnames are based on the father’s given name. Swedish patronymics end with -sson (son) or -dotter (daughter). Following this pattern, Lars, the son of Anders, would be named Lars Andersson; and Maria, the daughter of Anders, would be named Maria Andersdotter. In cases of illegitimacy, a child’s surname might be based on the mother’s given name. For example, Henrik Mariasson would be the son of Maria.

Although church records used the Swedish form of the names, Finnish genealogists often convert them to their Finnish equivalents. Patronymic surnames in Finnish end with -poika (son) or -tytär (daughter). For example, Lars Andersson would be recorded as Lauri Antinpoika and Maria Andersdotter as Maria Antintytär in Finnish.

In the late nineteenth century, patronymic surnames became fixed with each successive generation using the same patronymic surname. As names became fixed, brothers could take different surnames. One may have elected to use his patronymic surname, while another may have taken his father’s patronymic surname. Because of this, brothers named Sven and Pär, the sons of Lars Andersson, could be found in records with different surnames. One son may be called Sven Andersson (from his father’s patronymic) and the other, Pär Larsson (from his own patronymic).

Family Names
The surnames used in eastern Finland are family surnames, which means that they were used in a family from generation to generation. They represent some of the earliest family surnames of Europe and most of them indicate relationship or common origin, although this cannot always be proved because of few sources.

Family surnames have certain types of endings: -nen or -ainen/-äinen. For example, Huuskonen and Liimatainen are family surnames. In earlier records, these names were found with other endings, such as Huuskoin and Liimatain. Early records also used a feminine variation: -tar. For example, Huuskotar and Liimatar both have the feminine ending.

Nature
Other types of surnames used in eastern Finland refer to nature. Such surnames include Kurki (crane), Orava (squirrel), and Repo (fox).

Soldier Names
When a soldier enlisted in the army, he was given a new surname. This name stayed with him as long as he served in the military. Often a certain name was associated with the soldier’s cottage, and each new soldier assigned to that cottage received the same name. Soldier names pertained only to the soldier himself and not to his family or descendants. After the mid-nineteenth century, however, these names frequently became permanent family surnames.

The Swedish military used soldier names to distinguish persons with common patronymic names, such as Johansson and Mattsson. The soldier names were usually short, descriptive, and derived from Swedish: examples are Stål (steel), Glad (happy), Kämpe (fighter), Dufva (dove). However, in the mid-1800s Finnish language soldier names also became popular; examples are Kuula (canon ball, bullet), Luoti (bullet), Saari (island).

Other Types of Surnames
Besides using patronymic names, both the nobility and clergy used additional inherited surnames. Nobility surnames are unique family surnames, generally given at the time of ennoblement. The clergy often assumed surnames with the Latinized ending -ius, such as Alcenius and Rothovius.

In the 1800s artisans and urban tradesmen began to use their occupations as surnames in either their Finnish or Swedish versions. Examples of these names are Nikkari or Snickare (carpenter) and Mylläri or Möllare (miller). They also took Swedish compound names, such as Söderqvist, Sjöberg, and Lindholm.

Abbreviations
In areas where patronymic surname were used it was the normal practice to abbreviate surnames. In a parish where most of the population has a surname ending with -dotter or -sson, recording the name in full would be needlessly redundant.

In parishes where the priest or sexton was recording persons with Finnish names, the abbreviation p. represents poika (son), and t. stands for tytär (daughter). In records where persons are recorded with Swedish names, the abbreviations d., dr., dtr., are all substitutes for dotter. Likewise, male patronymics are frequently shortened to s or ss.

Name Frequency
A study of the population in southern Finland during the 1850s found the most common female given names were Eva, Maria, and Anna, comprising 57% of the females in one parish, and the same three names representing 37% in another. The names Esther and Amanda belonged to another 11%; with these five names being found in 48% of the female population. The most common male names were Johan/Johannes, Anders, Adam, Matts, and Thomas representing 55% in one parish; and the Johan, David, Matts, Carl, and Henrik comprising 55% in another.

Farm Names
Farm names usually end with -la, -lä as in Anttila, Lukkarila and Takala. Many of the farm names originate in given names: Pekkala is a place where Pekka lives. It is usually impossible to find who gave his name to the farm. The name may have developed hundreds of years ago and the family may have moved away and been replaced by another family, while the original name of the farm has been in use all the time. Surnames can also be derived from the name of the farm.

There are are also examples of farms which got the name from some family coming as settlers from the eastern cultural area. For example, in the 1500s someone with the name Taskinen moved from Savonia to Northern Ostrobothnia, and settled on a farm which then became known as Taskila. The original family name was forgotten after a couple of generations because it was uncommon with family names in that area, because everyone used a given name plus a patronymic. Some generations later the farm is sold and the new owners start to use a family name in the beginning of 1900s. They now choose the name Taskinen. The family name has been passed over to a family without any kinship to the original Taskinen family 300 years earlier.

There are many variations of farm names, especially in Ostrobothnia, from where most of the Finns in North America descend. Names built up of two different parts as Koivuhakola, Tikanoja and Ojaharju are common. A separate group of names are the one where the first part of the name change and the second part is the same: Latvanikula, Alanikula; Ylänikula, Takanikula, Peränikula, Keskinikula, etc. There may have been a farm Nikula which was divided into several parts, then into smaller parts. There may be difficulties in proving a relationship between the inhabitants at the different Nikula farms, because the division may have been done during a period from which no written documents are found.

Eastern Finland
Farm names were also used in eastern Finland. Here they developed into permanent family surnames and did not change as a family moved. These names often end in -la/-lä or -lainen/-läinen. Examples of these names include Heikkilä (Heikki’s farm) and Haapalainen (place of aspens).

Western Finland
Farm names were often used like surnames, but they referred to a person’s place of residence. Thus a person called Juho (Johan) Koskiniemi lived at a place called Koskiniemi. If he moved, he would use the name of the new farm as a surname. During the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, farm names often became fixed family surnames.

Online Resources

 * Wiktionary : the free dictionary. Category:Finnish given names. Gives Finnish names with Swedish equivalents.
 * Genealogical Society of Finland. Finnish Genealogy: The Finnish Naming System