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

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:
 * The first male child was usually named for the father's father.
 * The second boy was named for the mother's father.
 * The first female child was named for the mother's mother.
 * The second girl was named for the father's mother.
 * Additional children were often named for the parents' grandparents.
 * If a spouse died, and the surviving spouse remarried, the first child by the same sex was named after the deceased spouse.

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 became Johan the smith, Johan the son of Matts, or Johan from a given farm. 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 list a surname for newborn infants, but instead, listed a first name. In creating a surname standard for the International Genealogical Index, the Family History Library assigns the surnames strictly by whether a parish is classified as a patronymic parish (western) or a set 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 the International Genealogical Index.

All Finns had patronymic names. If they also had a farm name or a family surname, the patronymic name may or may not have been written out. The same person may have used a patronymic name in one record and a farm or family surname in another record.

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.

Surnames in 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 -son (son) or -dotter (daughter). For instance, Lars, son of Anders, was named Lars Andersson, and Maria, daughter of Anders, was named Maria Andersdotter.

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

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 a Maria.

In the late nineteenth century, patronymic surnames became fixed. In other words, they no longer changed with each generation. As names became fixed, brothers could take different surnames. One may have taken his own patronymic name, while another may have taken his father’s patronymic name. For example, brothers named Sven and Pär could be listed with different surnames. If their father was Lars Andersson, one son might be listed as Sven Andersson (from his father’s patronymic) and the other son as Pär Larsen (from his own patronymic).

Farm Names. 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.

Surnames in Eastern Finland
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).

Farm Names. 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).

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.

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. Someone with the name Taskinen moved from the Savo area to northern Ostrobothnia, and settled on a farm which got the name 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 1900's. 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.

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