Swedish Surname Naming Practices
Having only recently started my journey into genealogy as well as learning how to use/navigate Family/Search’s World Tree AND being an octogenarian, I need all the help I can get.
Currently I am looking for some insight into how some surnames were derived in Sweden. I am familiar with the patronymic naming practice, however, in tracing some individuals on Riksarkivet I find that a child of Eric or Erik in some cases were given the surname of Ersson or Ersdotter.
My questions are:
Was Ersson/Ersdotter an abbreviation used by the Clergy for Ericsson, Eriksson, Ericsdotter or Eriksdotter? OR Were their surnames actually Ersson/Ersdotter?
Also within FamilySearch some profile names are shown as what I believe to be a composite of both their birth name and what I think is their military name. One example is Eric Eriksson Sjölund (PID G6ZB-SP5).
For his birth record (27 Feb 1824), his name was recorded as Eric.
For his first household record (1824-1829), his name was recorded as Eric Ersson
For his death record (25 May 1876), his name was recorded as Erik Sjölund.
Multiple household records after (1824-1829) have his name as either Eric Ersson, Eric Ersson Sjölund, Eric Sjölund or Erik Sjölund. I have found no records on Riksarkivet with his name recorded as Eric Eriksson Sjölund.
For this individual’s person page on FamilySearch, what is the proper way to record his name?
So far I have not found any military records for this individual. Any help in that direction would be greatly appreciated.
Answers
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@AlexS41
In my experience Swedish records have lots of abbreviations. Yes, Ersson is an abbreviation for Ericsson. On the clerical household record it shows that his father is Eric so with patronymics his name is Eric Ericsson but with the abbreviation it becomes Ersson. One of the reasons this record shows him with the last name of Ersson is to show the different relationships on the is record. The child listed above him is shown as Lars Larsson indicating that he has a different father. I believe it also shows that this a second marriage for Margta Ericsdotter. The FamilySearch research wiki page on Sweden has a lot of information about naming practices.
This video may also be helpful. I haven't watched all of it but there is a lot of helpful information.
When deciding which name to put as the official name on the person page I use the first time the last name is recorded. All other names I put in the "Other Information" section of the person page under alternate names using the "also known as." This way I am able to note all of the names the person went by.
In reviewing the records you have attached. I found that he actually died 18 May 1876 and was buried 25 May 1876. This is confirmed by the clerical household record.
Good luck in your journey in Sweden!
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@ G Haux
Thank you for your comments and links! Very helpful and much appreciated! I should have caught the death date error before I posted. I do have it correct on my spreadsheet, in error I grabbed his burial date.
I am very much enjoying my journey into finding my Swedish roots. I know I have a lot to learn and hopefully the FS Community can help when I have questions. I have found when using Riksarkivet I am able to trace individuals a lot easier than doing record searches on FamilySearch. I am still looking for that magic key to do that on FS.
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I have found the FS Community to be the best!!
I have never found the magic key to do record searches on FamilySearch. That is why I am so grateful for the other databases such as Riksarkivet and ArkivDigital. I love these for different reasons and have found that using these with FamilySearch really helps me complete the timeline for the family I am working on.
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Hi!
It was not that uncommon for people to change names, often it was to add a rote name, a rote was a group of soldiers that used the same surname. Sjölund is not a rote name, in Gnarps Al:11 page 347 is the first time he used Sjölund. In Harmånger Al:12 page 76 row 8 is the first and only time I believe that his full name was used, Erik Eriksson Sjölund. So, I would not change his name as I think it's the correct way of typing it, I would however add Erik Sjölund as an alternative name.
I can recommend Myheritages desktop program (Family Tree Builder) that is very handy when you need to track a person in riksarkivet. for our Erik I searched for ersson/ericsson/sjölund
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I do quite a bit of Swedish research and find the place search on the Library Catalog on FamilySearch to be very helpful in finding the parish records. That way you can find all of the digitized images and not just the ones that have been indexed. Arkiv Digital is another great source for the Swedish Records and very easy to use. It's free at any FamilySearch Center. I especially like AD if I need to find tax or probate records. MyHeritage often has many household surveys. The community has been invaluable to me!
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Thank you very much for your comments and links. I had not found the Harmånger link before, very helpful! I do see that on the same page on row 5 there is another entry for an Er Ersson with the same birth date of 27 Feb 1824 as the Erik Eriksson Sjölund on row 8. Not sure why there are two entries on this page with slightly different names. Are they the same/different person, not sure yet. Will have to check the moving in/out record for more clues.
I am assuming you found the Harmånger record by using MyHeritage. I will need to check that out. Unfortunately I have not found many (any) of the more sophisticated genealogy programs that will work on my Chromebook or iPad.
After reading on Hans Högman’s website that “Sjölund” was a military name I would like to see if this was the reason Eric Ersson had a name change. Any help in this direction would be greatly appreciated!
Slightly off topic, I really liked the way your links were "plain text" hyperlinks. Is that a copy/paste action from another program or something you are able to do within the FS "Leave a Comment" box?
Thanks again for your help.
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Hi!
I believe they are the same person since there aren't that many Erik Eriksson born on that day. Anyway I've tried to see if he in fact was a soldier so here are the page I've checked with him in them:
Harmånger Al:12 page 76
Harmånger Al:12 page 138, to Gnarp 1851?Gnarp Al:13 page 116 in Ås
Gnarp Al:13 page 118 in Ås, came from page 116
Gnarp Al:13 page 13 in Gränssjö, came from page 118Gnarps Al:14 page 16 in Gränssjö
Gnarps Al:15 page 15, something happens here so he gets moved to 418
Gnarps Al:15 page 418 (försvarslöse) Defensless, came from page 15
Gnarps Al:15 page 146, from 418 in 1862Gnarp Al:17a page 138 in Ås, also he's a Sexman
Gnarp Al:17a page 160 in ÅsHe's not mentioned as a soldier anywhere. But once as a "sexman" That doesn't explain why he choose Sjölund but he worked as a farmhand with a Sjölund..Not sure if that helps
Regarding the hyperlinks, just highlight any number of words when you're typing and you'll see how you insert a link
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I hate to admit it.. but I was wrong! There are many many Sjölunds in Gnarp parish, I tried to dig into your relative background and I must say that the records in Gnarp are for the most part very easy to read. I've filled in what I could and Ill leave the rest for you :-9
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Thank you for your suggestions. Very much appreciated! To date I have not subscribed to any paid genealogy services because I feel I have so much to learn just about the basics.
While I do want to expand the FSFT I don't want to "do" something without knowing that it is correct and understanding how to "undo" it if I make a mistake. Some parts of the FamilySearch user interface can be quite challenging, to me at least!
The closest FamilySearch Center is over an hour away from me so I am doing a lot of reading on FS Wiki, here on FS Community and several books - as well as watching many FamilySearch and Brigham Young University YouTube videos to learn as much as I can. It's a process! 😞
Thanks again!
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Thanks for the links, you added four that I didn't have. Much appreciated!
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