Anbytarforum
Särskilda ämnen & övrigt => Discussions in English => Swedish names => Ämnet startat av: Carla Weide Boehm skrivet 2013-11-05, 20:43
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Is their any known reason why Jonas Peter Svensson and family took on the name Ahlstedt? Any info on this family would be greatly appreciated. I have listed what I have.
Jonas Peter Svensson -Ahlstedt
Birth 14 Nov 1817 in Växjö Kronobergs län, Jordtorpare
Death 23 December 1868 in Wolne, Lockne parish, Sweden
Parents & Siblings
Sven Petersson 1794 - 1855
Stina Jonasdotter 1790 - 1869
Helena Sophia Svensdotter 1820 -
Carl Johan Svensson 1823 -
Sven Magnus Svensson 1825 -
Samuel August Svensson 1828 - 1902
Anna Lovisa Svensdotter 1832 -
Spouse & Children
Kajsa Karin Friberg-Ahlstedt 1814 - 1888
Carolina Svensson-Ahlstedt 1847 -
Helena Svensson-Ahlstedt 1849 -
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Carla
My best guess is that he wanted a nicer and less common name than Svensson. Besides, he was born in Kråkshult (not Växjö) and died in Valne. His wife Karin (Kajsa) Friberg was not called Ahlstedt in the books (quite normal). Also I think his daughters were called Ahlstedt.
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Hi Carla,
As Kristina says, he probably just wanted another name. It is not a modern phenomena that some things suddenly becomes popular. That is what happened in Sweden in the late 1800's. It became modern and popular to skip your patronymic and get another name. And there was no law prohibiting it. Such a law didn't come until 1901. So until then, you only had to tell the clergyman in your village that you had adopted a new name, and so it was registered. And where did these names come from? The answer is that people made them up.
When my ex-husband's great great grandfather in the 1880's left the small village of Sandhem, where he was born, and moved to another county, he adopted the name of Sandström. We can't say for sure, of course, but it is a good guess that the first part of the name is from his home village Sandhem. And the second part? Well, I guess it just sounded good in his ears. And it was a common ending. “Ström” means current, today mostly in the sense of electricity, in those days probably fast-running water. So, “current” is a common ending (or beginning) of a Swedish surname.
My own great grand-father, Per Persson, adopted the name of Brolund (bro = bridge, lund = groove) in the 1870's. Where he got “bro” from we don't know, there is no village or anything like that with a “bro” in it where he came from. But there was another family, in another parish not so far off, that had started using that name. Perhaps he met some of them, and took a fancy to the name.