Children born out of Wedlock.

[David Floodstrand]

How would a child born out of wedlock be named? Was this subject swept under the carpet?. Would the child take the mother, or fathers name?
 
                       David Floodstrand

[Andreas Karlsson]

If the father was known, then the naming procedure was the same as usual, i.e., with a patronymic name. Abiut patronymic names, see e.g. http://home.earthlink.net/~ricklefsr/rrpatro.htm
 
If the father was unknown, then a matronymic name was used instead, i.e., with the mother's name used in the surname instead of the father's.

[David Floodstrand]

Oh, Thank you Andreas.

[Christina Backman]

David! Later on, in the nineteenth century,  
when more and more people had acquired  
proper surnames it was usual for the child to  
take its mother´s surname. However there  
were ways of indicating who the father was.  
One little girl was christened  Johanna  
Bernhardina : Johan Bernhard Blomberg  
certainly had something to answer for!
Regards Christina.    .

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

I would not say that a child born out of wedlock always would get a metronymic name. During my years of research in Östergötland and Småland I have never yet seen a metronymic name, but the custom might be different in other parts of the country.
 
The child could be listed with its mother's patronymic, or its maternal grandfather's or one you cannot account for. In that case it might well be derived from the true father, which sometimes can be confirmed by going into the court records.

[Andreas Karlsson]

From Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1913
 
Matronymic
(Mat\ro*nymic) n. [L. mater mother + -nymic, as in patronimic.] See Metronymic.
 
Metronymic
(Met\ro*nymic) a. [Gr. mother + for name.] Derived from the name of one's mother, or other female ancestor; as, a metronymic name or appellation. - n. A metronymic appellation.
 
Patronymic
(Pa\tro*nymic) a. [L. patronymicus, Gr. father + name: cf. F. patronymique.] Derived from ancestors; as, a patronymic denomination.
 
Patronymic
(Pa\tro*nymic), n. A modification of the father's name borne by the son; a name derived from that of a parent or ancestor; as, Pelides, the son of Peleus; Johnson, the son of John; Macdonald, the son of Donald; Paulowitz, the son of Paul; also, the surname of a family; the family name. M. A. Lower.

[Andreas Karlsson]

It is interesting to see how this naming pattern still remains in Iceland. Every day, all the birth records from the Maternity Ward of the National Hospital in Reykjavík are sent to the Statistical Bureau; records are sent every week from hospitals outside Reykjavík. When birth records are received by the Statistical Bureau, the sex of the child is entered in the National Register, and its patronymic surname, if its parents are married or cohabiting; alternatively, the child is given a metronymic surname until an admission of paternity is received by the National Register from the man cited as the father by the mother at the time of birth, or a court order has been made establishing the paternity of the child.

[Christina Backman]

David! Later on, in the nineteenth century,  
when more and more people had acquired  
proper surnames it was usual for the child to  
take its mother´s surname. However there  
were ways of indicating who the father was.  
One little girl was christened  Johanna  
Bernhardina : Johan Bernhard Blomberg  
certainly had something to answer for!
Regards Christina.    .