Titel: Olof Evald Olson Linné
Skrivet av: Ingela Martenius skrivet 2011-09-11, 01:05
Linné was a rather popular family name right before the turn of the last century; I think it was particularly popular among craftsmen like shoemakers, tailors etc. There are lots of Linné people totally unconnected with Linnaeus (or as we call him, Carl von Linné); the end of the 1800's was a time for assuming well-known family names (since it wasn't put a stop to until 1901) and giving your children very grand first names. Most craftsmen assumed a family name on becoming journeymen (unless they already had a family name they preferred - a family name they didn't always use as apprentices).
You can't really say that someone drops his patronymic; the patronymic was there for life - the person who uses it or not is the one making the registrations, i.e. the vicar or the clerk in the parish office.
If you want to know more about Swedish naming customs: http://web.comhem.se/~u31263678/genealogy/Names.pdf
An apprentice (lärling) had a contract for a number of years with his master. The apprentice paid the master and worked for food and lodging and the chance to learn a trade. An apprentice was thus not free to come and go, but must stay put and was noted in the household examination roll. The person who came and went was the journeyman (gesäll). He was supposed to go walkies and work for shorter or longer periods of time for different masters, and learn from them - he was however paid since he did work that could be charged for. A journeyman might hold a arbetsbetyg (work certificate) that enabled him to work in another parish without being registered there (compare e.g. with the Dalarna people who went seasonally to Stockholm for work; they were never registered in Stockholm). Of course, if a journeyman settled somewhere, i.e. accepted a permanent position with a master, he'd have to register in that parish.