Swedish Nobility - Surnames

Surnames

Surnames in Sweden can be traced to the 15th century, when they were first used by the Gentry (Frälse), i.e., priests and nobles. The names of these were usually in Swedish, Latin, German or Greek. The adoption of Latin names was first used by the Catholic clergy in the 15th century. The given name was preceded by Herr (Sir), followed by a Latinized form of patronymic names. Starting form the time of the Reformation, the Latinized form of their birthplace (Laurentius Petri Gothus, from Östergötland) became a common naming practice for the clergy. Later merchants and other social groups discarded the formerly used family names (such as patronymic surnames) and adopted high-sounding Latin surnames, which conjured an image of an old family pedigree. Another subsequent practice was the use of the Greek language with the ending of ander, the Greek word for man. The use of surnames was still quite uncommon in the 17th century among the nobility and the educated class. Furthermore, the concept of hereditary surnames was also limited to a few families.

When a family was ennobled, it was usually given a name—just as lordships of England and other Western European countries. This was a period which produced a myriad of two-word Swedish-language family names for the nobility (very favored prefixes were Adler, "eagle"; Ehren - "ära", "honor"; Silfver, "silver"; and Gyllen, "golden"). The regular difference with Britain was that it became the new surname of the whole house, and the old surname was dropped altogether.