Norway
The most common Norwegian surnames were originally patronymic, commonly ending with the suffixes "-ssen", "-sson", "-sdatter", "-sdotter" which is the genitive s plus the word sen or son for son or datter or dotter for daughter. The genitive s was often dropped; compare Hanssen and Hansen. In 1923, it was ordered by law that each family should have a single, hereditary last name. Surnames derived from placenames commonly originated as farm names. Most families took a patronymic name, but some adopted a farm name. Today, the patronymic names are increasingly being left for the typonyms; 22.4% of the Norwegian population had a "-sen"-name in 2009, while the share is down to 18.4% for the newborns of 2009.
The most common Norwegian surnames would include many names which originated as farm names: Bakke/Bakken (hill or rise), Berg/Berge (mountain or hill), Dahl/Dal (valley), Haugen/Haugan (hill or mound), Lie (side of a valley), Moen (meadow), or Rud (clearing).
The listing of 20 most common Norwegian surnames:
| Rank | Surname | Number of bearers 2008 | Type | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hansen | 56.228 | patronymic | son of Hans |
| 2 | Johansen | 52.461 | patronymic | son of Johan |
| 3 | Olsen | 52.184 | patronymic | son of Ole |
| 4 | Larsen | 39.425 | patronymic | son of Lars |
| 5 | Andersen | 38.433 | patronymic | son of Anders |
| 6 | Pedersen | 36.362 | patronymic | son of Peder |
| 7 | Nilsen | 36.324 | patronymic | son of Nils |
| 8 | Kristiansen | 24.310 | patronymic | son of Kristian |
| 9 | Jensen | 23.836 | patronymic | son of Jens |
| 10 | Karlsen | 22.153 | patronymic | son of Karl |
| 11 | Johnsen | 21.226 | patronymic | son of John |
| 12 | Pettersen | 20.856 | patronymic | son of Petter |
| 13 | Eriksen | 19.563 | patronymic | son of Erik |
| 14 | Berg | 18.407 | landscape | mountain |
| 15 | Haugen | 14.293 | landscape | the hill or mound |
| 16 | Hagen | 14.293 | landscape | the enclosed pasture |
| 17 | Johannessen | 13.815 | patronymic | son of Johannes |
| 18 | Andreassen | 12.376 | patronymic | son of Andreas |
| 19 | Jacobsen | 12.105 | patronymic | son of Jacob |
| 20 | Halvorsen | 11.859 | patronymic | son of Halvor |
Read more about this topic: Scandinavian Family Name Etymology
Famous quotes containing the word norway:
“Such was the very armor he had on
When he the ambitious Norway combated.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Write about winter in the summer. Describe Norway as Ibsen did, from a desk in Italy; describe Dublin as James Joyce did, from a desk in Paris. Willa Cather wrote her prairie novels in New York City; Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn in Hartford, Connecticut. Recently, scholars learned that Walt Whitman rarely left his room.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)
“A long time you have been making the trip
From Havre to Hartford, Master Soleil,
Bringing the lights of Norway and all that.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)