Patronymical names

[Danielle Jonsson-Lopez]

I have a question about how the last names were passed down. I understand how patronymical surnames work for the most part, but do get a little confused.
 
My grandfather was Arthur Helge Jonsson. His father was Helge Sigurd Jonsson. My grandfather was first generation american, so I understand why Jonsson was used. But Helge's father was Gustaf Jonsson. My great grandfather's last name was not Gustafson. It remained Jonsson. I am guessing it was a personal choice by his father, and from what I read, Sweden had sort of gotten away from changing the surnames each generation by that time. I still see the old system being used by others in those generations. So my question is, how do I know how long Jonsson was used? If I am looking for Gustaf Jonsson's father, how do I know if I should be looking for a person named Jon with a totally different last name, or if I am still looking for Jonsson. This is where I come into trouble. I hope I explained that well enough.... it can get a little confusing.
 
  Also, with a name like Saether, or Stenman, that typically would not have changed down the generations, correct? at least, that is my assumption. do names that aren't patronyms mean that those families probably immigrated to Sweden from somewhere else, or were those names also originally used. (for instance, I think Stenman can be Stoneman, which might signal a person's profession a long time ago, and they took that as their last name....)  ??
 
                 Thank you! I hope I wasn't too confusing. I seem to confuse myself with all of this too.  
                             Dani

[John Bentley]

Hi
 
A good overview is http://web.comhem.se/~u31263678/genealogy/Names.pdf by Ingela.  She notes that in towns family names became more common from the 1870/80s while in the countryside it was later. Its one reason I rely on the 1880 and 1890 censuses for person searching in that son/dotter naming continued pretty consistently up to then.  Around the turn of the century, children increasingly took the fathers last name as their last name.  So your answer is in the date.  My guess is that if Gustaf Jonsson was born between 1880 and 1900 his father might have been either Jonsson or Jon xxxson.  Before that I would definitely expect his father to be Jon xxxson with his sister if he had one having the last name Jonsdotter.  It actually makes tracing generations much easier, especially in that there were conventions about first child named after paternal grandparent, next after maternal grandparent etc.  And once you have got the hang of wives names being xxxdotter and not changing on marriage, it is much more easy identifying them.
 
Family names like Stenman were taken up by ordinary folk from the late 1800s in Sweden, and before that when status went up. See what Chris wrote in http://aforum.genealogi.se/discus/messages/2450/171782.html?1218287661 about Segerlund.  That name was taken up in the family by a farmers son Per Svensson around 1780 when he became a Strandridare, a form of coastguard/customs official.  Notably, when his grandsons were young apprentices, the local priest recorded them by their son names, a note making it clear that he regarded their use of Segerlund as pretentious.  So while some of these old family names can be traced back to immigrant trades like smiths, for most Swedish folks with such names, you can trace back to the generation where the name was adapted when the user gained some profession or status meriting it.
 
Hope that helps.
John
 
ps  Names may not signify much, though naming after landscape features or farm names was common.  The -lund in Segerlund likely comes from the farm Lunden where the family lived.  I would not read anything special into the name Stenman, though it might just reflect a personal characteristic.
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av JohnB 2012-01-23 11:11)

[Elisabeth Thorsell]

Another informative article on Swedish names is found here: http://www.etgenealogy.se/nwonamn.htm

[Danielle Jonsson-Lopez]

Thank you, John, you gave me one important point I was not familiar with....  
  And once you have got the hang of wives names being xxxdotter and not changing on marriage, it is much more easy identifying them.
 
    - I understood the -dotter part, but what I never realized was that the wives names never changed on marriage. When looking at a census, and say, the head was Nils Olaf Stenman, and then lists his wife, Anna Helena Johansson, I always assumed the censuses just chose to list the woman with her maiden name as a detail. I didn't realize her name remained her birth name after marriage. That's a huge detail I was unaware of! Thank you!
      So that being said, then, I can assume, since Anna Helena is not Anna Helena Johansdotter that her father was most likely NOT Johan, correct?  
 
     Also, one bit of confusion I am running into with this new detail is that in the census, Nils Olaf Stenman had an older woman living in his household named Brita Greta Stenman. I assumed that this was his mother, because of her age, and because I thought that her name would have changed to her husband's last name.So based on what you said, am I wrong to assume that this is his mother? Or did women begin taking their husband's names around the 1860's if they chose to? Was it a rule they never took the husband's last name, or are there exceptions to that?
 
        Thank you!
              Dani

[Eva Dahlberg]

Hej Dani, the questions on    
Normally, women are not recorded with their husband's name until in the 1900s. That is almost to be taken as a rule  
 
To add to the confusion, rather than diminish it, I note you that are researching in Nederkalix in Norrbotten - in the countryside there they (even farmers) took family names already in early 1800s-1820s - contrary to what John cites. Also many families took the same family name without being related.
 
In the late 1800s you can never be quite sure if they are written with a patronymic name in the ordinary female version (Johansdotter) or as a Johansson (neutral to the fact that they are female) - or with their father's patronymic name. You need to follow them, in the church books which are continuous (as opposed to US or Swedish cencus taken every 10 years).
 
regards,
Eva
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av edah 2012-01-23 20:33)

[Danielle Jonsson-Lopez]

Thanks Eva!
 
 I looked at the other posting, and you confirmed Brita Greta was Nils Olof's mother. in (i believe) the 1890 census she was a Stenman. So would she be one of those rare exceptions to the rule at the time?
 
  Also, where are you getting all the information from these parishes, and how might I go about getting some copies. Is it on a disc I can order or something? Also, if so, were there multiple churches in these parishes, and how would I determine which church to get the records from without knowing if my relatives were included.  
   I've seen pictures of the red church in Kalix. Was that all there was in the whole area?
 
             Thank you again! You don't know how much I appreciate you taking the time to explain to me how these things work. I have so many questions, I know! So Thanks.
 
Dani

[John Bentley]

Hi
 
Its a problem that regional differences exit.  My research is mainly in Halland which is where I can comment on.  On wives names when there is a family name, it has seemed to me to depend on status.  These comments are for before the late 1800s.  For a priests family say, all family members, wife, children might take the family name, though for some children, they would loose it if they lost status, for example a daughter marrying a local farmer would revert to the appropriate ..dotter name.  Where the man is a craftsman, the wife and children were most likely not to take the family name, only a son if he takes up his fathers trade eg as a smith.  
 
Late 1800s and on, the wife taking the Stenman name would become normal. When the wifes name was Anna Helena Johansson, my guess would be that the husbands patronymic name was Johansson.  Only if her name was Johansdotter, then her father would be a Johan.  You are currently looking in the transition period of time and also with a family name, so for both reasons, its a bit unpredictable and confusing.  Before then its more predictable.  
 
I dont know about searchable sources, but Arkivdigital online has Nederkalix parish registers exist from 1770 to 1899 (with also one earlier register) and birth m d registers from 1656 to 1894.  You can buy registers on microfiche from Svar, purchase online.  How intelligible the old ones are I cannot answer, since older ones can require knowledge of old writing styles to understand. There is usually one set of registers for a parish.
 
John