How to Research Scandinavian Names for Genealogy

Do you have trouble understanding your ancestor’s Scandinavian names and how they used them? Each country had it’s own naming patterns and until you understand how they named their people, you won’t get very far.

Scandinavian Naming Patterns-Patronymics

Scandinavian naming customs started before the 1600’s when most people in the Nordic countries only had one name: their given name. Then once communities grew larger and more people had the same given name in the same town, people started adding a surname. Surnames weren’t just any name. They usually distinguished individuals by their relationship. Basically, their surname meant who were they related to. This naming pattern was called patronymics or being named after the father.

For example, if Nils had a son, then the son would be Nilson or Nilsen. This meant the son of Nils. If Nils had a daughter, then she would be Nilsdotter or Nilsdatter as her surname. The countries had different spellings for the surnames, which the following table shows. Therefore, if you see a certain ending, then you can generally know which country that ancestor comes from.

This is just a general table. Of course, people change things all of the time. Just because your ancestor is from Sweden doesn’t mean they stuck to using “son” or “dotter” for all their generations. But for the most part, people followed this pattern.

Another useful tidbit is Sweden and Finland added an “s” to their surnames. It was considered a possessive “s.” Therefore, Hans Larsson was the Swedish son of Lars. Norway and Denmark didn’t do this. If it was a daughter, then her name always had an “s” before the ending of “datter” or “dotter.”

Swedish and Finland Patronymics Examples

Peder Olafsson, Hans Nilsson, Jens Jensson

Kristine Olafsdotter, Ingeborg Nilsdotter, Astrid Jensdotter

Norway and Denmark Patronymics Examples

Peder Olafsen, Hans Nilsen, Jens Jensen

Kristine Olafsdatter, Ingeborg Nilsdatter, Astrid Jensdatter

Norway is unique in their patronymics because they had both the “son” and “sen” in their country. Most of the country followed the “sen” ending, but there were some parts that followed the Swedish spelling patterns.

Scandinavian names and genealogy

If you are trying to find the next generation and you don’t know their names, then look at the Scandinavian name you already have. This will give you a clue to the father’s first name. Now all you have to do is some detective work to narrow your search to the correct person.

Let’s use the name Nils Andersson as our example. You know from the name that Nils was the son of Anders. It has to be Anders. The father can’t be Peder Andersson or Olaf Andersson, etc. Next, you’ll need to start looking at different records to discover Nils’s father’s surname. One of the easiest records to look for are birth records. In my example, Nils Andersson will have a birth record that will list his father’s full name and, most likely, where his father was born. Next, you can find the parent’s full Scandinavian names in marriage records. Or you can find their names in Swedish Household Examination records.

Once you have Nils father’s full name, then you can jump to the next generation. You would still use the same church and census records as you did earlier, but now it will be for the next generation. This practice also works for finding female Scandinavian names. Unlike in America, most Scandinavian women kept their maiden name from birth to death. When they got married, they didn’t change their names. So a Karyn Jensdatter would still be Karyn Jensdatter even if she married Nils Andersson. To learn more then check out my blog post about Scandinavian women names.

Conclusion

Scandinavian names can be tricky, but you can find your ancestor’s once you learn about their naming patterns.

While searching for these names, if you run into any roadblocks on your journey, then I would love to help you. Also, Family Search Wiki has some great articles if you want to learn more. So go here if you want to learn more about Swedish naming customs, go here for Norwegian names and go here for Danish naming. They’re fascinating reads!

Good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. Have you checked out my other Swedish and Norwegian genealogy posts? Learn more from this one here about Swedish Household Examination records.

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