Americanized Norwegian Given Names

Kristina Gow Clever

I'm looking for resources that might help me determine how a Norwegian given name might have been Americanized. Some of the names in my family have been easy, but I have come across a couple of names that I am unsure of. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Michael Stenberg

Kristina, I would start here in the WIKI; https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Tips_for_Norwegian_American_Researchers

Kristina Gow Clever

Thank you, Michael. I didn't find anything there to help with given name variations.

Norm Baker

This site may be helpful to you: https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/norwegian. Note that there are multiple pages to look at.

Norm Baker

There are also some links under "Online Resources" on this page in the Family Search Wiki for Norway that may be helpful: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Norway_Personal_Names.

There are some people who took entirely new names when they came to America and that makes things really difficult.

Kristina Gow Clever

I'm painfully familiar with the name changes. My great grandfather, Helmer Hansen, was born 26 September 1884 at the Midtbostuen farm and lived at the Bonderud farm before he left Norway. In U.S. records, he used the name Ole Helmer Rude and a birth date of 18 August 1881-1882. Incidentally, he oldest known brother was Ole Mauritz Hansen, born on 18 August 1876.

For the family I am currently working on, all six children had a given and middle name, which is unusual in most of my Norwegian family. The given name I am particularly interested in is Reinert.