Norway Genealogy

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Getting started with Norway research
Welcome to the  Norway  Page!

  FamilySearch Wiki is a community website dedicated to helping people throughout the world learn how to find their ancestors. Through the Norway Portal page you can learn how to find, use, and analyze Norwegian records of genealogical value. The content is variously targeted to beginners, intermediate, and expert researchers. Please visit the help page to learn more about using the site. The Norway Portal Page is a work in progress, your contributions and feedback are essential!

Research Tools

 * (helpful tools and resources, gazetteers)
 * (language dictionary, handwriting guide or tutorial, etc.)

Help Wanted
The Moderator for the Norway content is steuartrc. In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need to be done. You can help by:

Featured Content
Take a look at the Bergen Norway Page, it contains links to some of the Emigrants leaving Norway for the United States from the ports in Bergen. Another useful Website for Norway research is Fylkesarkivet i Sogn, can be read in English or Norweigian.

Did you know?

 * You can view photos of churches in Norway.


 * You can also view a Photo Album of Farms as part of the digital archives of the Norwegian National Archives. It contains patron-submitted photos of 1900-era farms. There is a link in the album between a farm photo and the respective farm in the 1900 census list, so that one can find information on the farm and household.


 * During the 1500-1800’s it was very common for the Norwegian people to use what is called a patronymic naming system. They would take the father’s given name and add “sen/son” or “datter”. Others chose to use the name of the farm they were associated with as their last names. This really was an address, but some of these farm names were continued through many generations and have become last names.


 * In 1923 a new naming law (Navneloven av 1923) came into effect, and people now had to choose a family name. The change from patronymics to family names had already started in the mid-1870; the cities had started a little earlier and the smaller parishes a little later. However, the law was approved 1923. In 2003 another law was put into practice. It was now again legal to choose a patronymic or matronymic name.


 * Farm names are very important in locating people in Norway. Through these names you can find parishes and then your ancestors in the parish registers.


 * There is a Norwegian Farm Book Extraction Project. Contact Roger Magneson only if you wish to participate in indexing.  [mailto:MagnesonR@familysearch.org MagnesonR@familysearch.org]