Unusual swedish names

[Nancy Jaderen]

I have been able to trace one branch of my family tree to the 1300's and 1400's and I have come across names like Ornflyct,Ulf,Svinhufvud and Bydelsback. These names are preceeded with the patrynomics. Are these names significant in some way and what would be,if any,the origin of them.
  Thank you

[Mikael Edberg]

Örnflyct (Örn=Eagle, flyct=escape)
Ulf (Ulf=Wolf)
Svinhufvud (Svin=Pig, hufvud=head)
 
I would say these are nobility names.
Never heard about Bydelsback (Bydelsbäck?), but it may be a noblity name as well.
 
regards/
Mikael

[Olle Hörnlund]

I would say that the word Flyct also can have the meaning of the way a bird flies.
The word Örnflyct would then mean the flight of an eagle.
 
Ulf is a christian name.
 
Best regards
Olle

[Mikael Edberg]

I agree with Olle that Flyct in this case means flight of a bird.  
Ulf is used as a christian name, but together with the other names mentioned I would say that it is in this case a family name.  
 
regards/
Mikael

[Nancy Jaderen]

Thanks, Mikael and Olle,
  I have also found the name Bydelsback spelled as Buhlesback. What would that mean?
   Nancy

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

The names Svinhufvud, Örnflycht and Ulf are family names of old families of the nobility.  
 
They did usually not use these names in the 1400s, but their later descendants did, when it became mandatory for the noble families to assume family names around 1625. And when the older generations are discussed, they are often given these names too, mostly in parentheses (Svinhufvud), to show that it is a later construction.
 
The names are built from the coat of arms of these noblemen. If you had for instance the head of a boar as your coat of arms, you might interpret that as Svinhufvud and use it as a family name.
 
The genealogies of the nobility of the Middle Ages is a very difficult field, as the source material is very scarce, and lots of people have made lots of guesses on the relationships, without much proof.

[Anna Berg]

Ulf or older Ulv is not a christian name, it's an old vikingname or norse name and it means Wolf. You can't find it in the christian bible at all.

[Mikael Edberg]

Anna,
My english/swedish dictionary says:
Christian name = förnamn.
Thats what I (and probably Olle) meant.

[Jörgen Tollesson]

Christian name=dopnamn.
 
Christening/baptism=dop.

[Lena-Maria Jansson]

Bydelsback or Buhlesback is probably of german origin. This is a time in sweden with a lot of influenses from germany and a lot of germans moved to sweden, mostly to towns and mostly to Stockholm.
 
The other names are as mentioned names of nobility. The nobility came from ordinary people and made it(for different reasons) to nobility and did make a show of their status by creating family creasts. To display for others, as in the above mentioned coat of arms. And later these where used as names.
Lena-Maria

[Torsten Berglund]

It's not adequate to translate the noble family name “Svinhufvud” as 'Pig head' like some one did before. The coat of arms in medieval seals shows the head of a wild boar [vildsvinshanne] with big tusks, so a better translation would be 'wild boar head'. A wild boar is quite an impressive and dangerous fighter and therefore also a quite popular symbol in medieval coat of arms.  
 
Bydelsbach is a Danish noble family known in the 14th and 15th centuries, probably origin from the place Beutelsbach in Schwaben, Germany.(Raneke, Svenska medeltidsvapen, s 341).

[Jonas Kuschner (Jonas)]

Nancy, you should be careful what you work into your own genealogy of these medieval ancestors. A great deal of research has been done and published on some of these families (less, of course, on others), but it is usually available only in Swedish.  
 
What you find through English-language secondary (or, more often, tertiary) sources and, especially, on the Internet, is very often based on outdated or low-quality genealogical works with an admixture of wishful and uncritical thinking. This caution should also be applied to some of the most easily available Swedish-language secondary sources, such as Elgenstierna's genealogies of the Swedish nobility. Many things have had to be revised since Elgenstierna's work was published in the 1920s and 30s. Genealogies made in the 17th and 18th century in order to strengthen the prestige of a family have often been dismantled by modern critical researchers. Nevertheless, some of these genealogies still circulate.
 
If you really want to get into this area you may do best asking about each family separately under the appropriate section here on Anbytarforum, usually Anbytarforum: Släkter: Introducerad adel if it is a family included in Elgenstierna, or Anbytarforum: Övriga ämnen: Medeltiden if it is a Medieval family or person not belonging to the families included in Elgenstierna. (Don't worry if you place the discussion wrong; Peter will hopefully move it to its appropriate place or correct the heading if necessary.)