* after a piece of information, e.g. You typed "Christopher" and didn't find him. I have also seen examples of people with 2 names like "Øyvind Andreas", which used the name "Øyvind" in Norway, who starting to use the name "Andreas" when emigrating to the US, and then changing it to "Andrew". !! Lets say you knew your great-great-grandfather's name was Christopher, and went searching for him in the 1801 online census at the Digitalarkivet. In 1923 a law was passed, which made it compulsory for every person to have a fixed family name. The first known record of the name is 1318, in the Annals of Scotland (according to that link). Eg, The first 'o' (in Thom) appears to be consistent with all languages. It is the name progression for Jo Anne's father's great-greatgrandfather, Anfin Anderson Estrem from Vang, Valdres. You want to find him in the "Emigrants from Oslo" database and search for "Given name" "equals" "Ole". Only registered users can write comments! The first born daughter was usually named after her paternal grandmother, and the second born daughter after her maternal grandmother. When a couple was married and had children, the custom was that the first born son was named after his paternal grandfather, with the exception of when a man married a woman and took over her father's farm, then we usually se the first born son named after the maternal grandfather. The patronymic is in general the fathers name as a prefix, and "sen", "son" or "søn" as a suffix for males, and "datter" or "dotter" as a suffix for females. Your use of the site indicates your agreement to be bound by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. A patronymic name (pater=father, lat.) Histform gives instructions and a format for the registration of the Norwegian censuses from 1865 to 1910, but the system is also very suitable for the registering of other sources, like the passenger lists. In England, the popularity of both versions is lower. The oldest known form is "Anulaibar", constructed of the prefix "anu" which means "ancestor", and the suffix "laibar" which means "descendant" or "heir". Despite this I'm left wondering why people always spell my name wrong. The Thomson variant is simpler to spell and if one was lazy you'd think they'd default to that version (especially in Scotland). Etymology favours Thomson and there is also a stronger phonological basis for that variant; trying to spell the name as it sounds should at least lead to Tomson or Thomson but (most definitely) not ThomPson. (If you have examples on Americanized Norwegian "American-sounding" names, I would appreciate if you would share that information with me.). As there could be several people in a village by the name of "Ole Olsen", it was common to add the farm name for closer identification. Google translate to check spelling in the modern Germanic languages. By making a donation you will help keep this site the great resource that it is! We will also discover that there were great variations in how they were written. Berge at - Østrem Gard. You might think that this would not be a problem, as you know your ancestors name, and will recognize it when you see it in the source you are working with. For more parenting tips and tricks, find us on Pinterest: Are you a writer, expert, or influencer? The name Thomson is apparently the 4th most common surname in Scotland, the variant Thompson is far down the list. Given the supposed first recorded spelling (1318) and the 'son' ending, a possible Anglo-Saxon origin (ie Old English) seems unlikely. Similar reasoning suggest that Danish origin is also unlikely. It can be quite confusing, but one should bear it in mind when doing research online, and meeting the brick wall. Ole HansenRagnhild PedersdatterHans OlsenPeder OlsenRagnhild Olsdatter, Ole HansenRagnhild Hansen Hans HansenPeder HansenRagnhild Hansen, Ole HansenRagnhild PedersenHans OlsenPeder OlsenRagnhild Olsen. a patronymic or surname/farm name, indicates that the information is not given in the original, but included by the registrator on the basis of other information given in the source, like in the example below. Last Updated (Friday, 05 October 2012 17:20), Joomla 1.5 Templates Joomla Web Hosting I'll mention the old norse naming traditions first, even though it might not be relevant to us when searching for our ancestors. Nynorsk which despite the literal meaning (new Norwegian) is actually an older 'truer' form of the language, so this gives some indication to what the Old Norse language would have looked like. As a Swedish name it may be ornamental. cushion cut engagement rings Now, we all know there were quite a lot of people by the name of Ole, and therefore it was necessary to identify people by something more than just their given name. To find "Øyvind Andreas" in the census, if you only knew him by the "Andreas" name, you would have to search by names "containing" "Andreas". Source: Dalby Database on Ancestry.com. Why didn't the search engine find you great-grandfather? 75 Fairy Names for Your Magical Little One, 25 Gen Z Slang Phrases All Parents Should Know. It is a list of nicknames used by criminals in Christiania (now Oslo) in 1874. So, if Ole's father was "Hans", he would be "Ole Hansen". You could say, that in many ways the patronymic served as a surname, but not in the way we use them. However, those saints, and other figures from the bible, had names which was not always fitting in to the Norwegian language and many of those names where therefore "Norwegianized". It was not uncommon to change a to a name that sounded almost the same as the original name, and that Americans could pronounce. The second born son would usually be named after his maternal grandfather. Checking the 1865 census for "farm names" "equals" "Solem" returns a list of 95 farms, situated in Buskerud, Telemark, Aust-Agder, Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal, Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag. When reading through a court process from Christiania, one will, in particular when it concerns the town's regular criminals, see that just about every one of them are know by nicknames, and will always be addressed by his mates by that name, as their legal name almost never are used. However, what we see in many cases when Norwegians emigrated to America, or other parts of the world, is that they adopted the naming customs of their new country, and started to use the father's patronymic as a surname for all of the members of the family. Also, if one of the parents of an unborn child died prior to the child being baptized, one would name a child of the same sex as the deceased, after him or her. I'm not a language expert but I do enjoy reading about language and how it has evolved. Solem, Solum or Solheim describes a farm on a place with a lot of sun. I will do my best to translate the names to English, but will not guaranty that I get them all right. You will find this Americanizing phenomenon in applications for Social Security numbers, in applications for marriage licenses, and on death certificates. Well, there you go, construct some of those old norse names for your family, try prefix "Arn" + suffix "finn", and get "Arnfinn" a common name in Norway today, or "Sol" + "veig" and get "Solveig". So if "my" Johannes Olsen Solem had moved to another farm, he would have become Johannes Olsen Berg, or Dahl or whatever name the farm had. As other information on the lists clearly states they were family, wife, sons and daughter, we add the right patronymic with an * to show it was not written in the original source. Some other popular names are Kristian, Kristen, Christian, and Christoffer, which all have strong roots in christian tradition. It is also a problem when searching the online sources for farm names, that there were variations of those names also. We know for sure that Ole departed from Oslo (Christiania, Kristiania), and we assume that the database is complete (which it isn't yet). The 'th' and 'o' (in son) sounds are consistent with modern Nordic languages, although not really true of modern English. This is true, but not with the digital sources. signifies that this information in the source must be wrong for obvious reasons. SOLBERG Norwegian, Swedish From a place name, derived from Old Norse sól "sun" and berg "mountain". However, many of the old norse names are popular today in some form or another. So see the above sentence. This suggests that Thomasson may be the first such spelling and that Tomson and Thomson should also be acceptable. This name has likely Scandinavian roots. You might find an explanation of what your name means on the Oluf Ryg database of Norwegian Farm Names at the "Dokumentasjonsprosjektet" web site. When naming a child it was a custom to use a component from both the father's and the mother's name for the first born of both sexes, and from other relatives names for the next siblings. English: the 'o' of son sounds more like a 'u', eg sun. My point here is that you should always keep in mind that there could be variations of the name, which you would easily have spotted if you looked at the original source, but might miss in a search. joomla hosting, Sunday, 27 November 2011 21:44 | Author: Ed |. Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning. Source: Vang bygebok, Volume B, page 321 by Anders Frøhom & private researcher in Norway. The family apparently used the farm name Ryg, Rygh, Rygg very briefly. The old vikings believed that the child would achieve qualities and protection from what they were named after, like animals and weapons. He was listed as "Åsmund Hallvardsson" at Rygg, Etne, in the Hordaland index. If you do not have a Norwegian keyboard or Norwegian keyboard settings, it is still possible to type those letters. However, a patronymic was a name you would carry with you all your life. You must also have in mind that when you tell a search engine to do the search for you, it will only recognize exactly what you tell it to. Source: Digitalarkivet, 0545 Wangs, Oppland. Alfred the Great was a 9th-century king of Wessex who fought unceasingly against the Danes living in northeast England. This article focuses on the Norwegian naming traditions, and what problems or advantages they can bring to the online researcher.