Appendix:Finnish surnames

Main category: Finnish surnames

History

Surnames have only been required by Finnish law since 1921. Prior to this, surnames were not used in all regions, or had only been adopted recently; by 1921, however, the majority of Finns already had a surname. Western Finland traditionally used "surnames" (closer to epithets rather than family names) based on names of farms and farmsteads, on which the people in question lived (the epithet would thus change if the person moved). These so-called farm names (oikonyms) often ended in -la; this suffix remains common in Finnish surnames today. Farmsteads themselves tended to be named after their owners, their occupations or after nearby natural features. They could also be named after existing surnames, in which case the suffix -nen (or sometimes even other suffixes) was replaced with -la. Farm names could also be e.g. compound or just simple words describing their location or nearby natural features; in many cases, such names were first used of e.g. natural features, and a nearby farm was then named after them. In some cases, patronymics were also used, although these were not as widespread and very few patronymics remain as surnames today; indeed, it is much more common, albeit still not common, to encounter patronymics as middle names than as surnames.

Eastern Finland had been using (hereditary) surnames for longer. Savonians and Karelians tended to practice slash-and-burn agriculture (besides hunting and fishing), which, requiring a lot of land, motivated a somewhat nomadic lifestyle and thus the use of surnames. This system of surnames appears to have been fully developed already in the Middle Ages. Savonian surnames often used the suffix -nen/-inen, originally of diminutive meaning, and the suffix is ubiquitous in Finnish surnames today. Sources for Savonian and Karelian surnames included the names of forebears as well as bynames or nicknames given to people based on their features. In some cases, they could also be derived from farm names, usually resulting in names ending in -lainen/-läinen.

Thus, in both Western and Eastern Finland, it was not uncommon for given names to end up as surnames. Many of these names of foreign origin, from languages like Swedish, other Germanic languages (like Low German, High German or Frisian) or Russian, have fallen out of use as given names and persist only in surnames.

Swedish speakers in Finland tended to carry their Swedish surnames over to Finland, but a Swedish surname is not necessarily an indication of Swedish ancestry. For one, Swedish surnames were also adopted by townspeople and artisans, even if they were not of Swedish ancestry nor even Swedish-speaking. In general, Swedish surnames were seen as more prestigious, and therefore it was common to adopt a Swedish surname as one reached a higher level in society (e.g. when getting educated). Furthermore, soldiers under Swedish rule were often given a Swedish "soldier name" (sotilasnimi, soldatnamn; a kind of nom de guerre), as was Swedish tradition, and many of these carried over into surnames. In the 19th century, the practice of adopting Swedish surnames spread more widely among the western Finnish population.

However, a major shift took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the Fennicization of surnames, in which people and their families bearing Swedish surnames adopted a new Finnish surname. Not only were existing surnames adopted, but new surnames were also created. Sources for new names included terms describing natural features, place names as well as elements from national mythology and literature as part of romantic nationalism. Existing suffixes like -la and -nen were widely used in new surnames, and the suffixes were often attached to words that they were not traditionally usually used with, e.g. -nen with terms for natural features. These surnames were not adopted merely by those who had Swedish surnames, but also by those (in western Finland) that did not yet have a surname and chose not to adopt their farmstead's name as a surname.

By far the most active time period for Fennicization was the first decade of the 20th century. 1906, in particular, saw a large campaign to Fennicize surnames. The 1930s was another active decade, and 1935 saw another similar campaign. However, Fennicization was not universal. Many kept their Swedish surnames, which remain common in Finland. While the surnames are also now undoubtedly Finnish surnames, used by people in Finland and by Finns (many even by Finnish-speaking Finns, who had adopted a Swedish surname under Swedish rule as mentioned before), they are not strictly Finnish surnames in the sense that they are not surnames in the Finnish language.

It is important to note that Fennicization was not a one-to-one process. Two families with the same Swedish surname could adopt different Finnish surnames (Johansson variously became Airo, Kaila, Somerjoki and Vannas). Likewise, the same Finnish surname could have been adopted by multiple families with different Swedish surnames, like how Rautavaara was adopted by families with the surnames Sirius, Rosenqvist, Backman, Järnberg, Granlund and Mattson. A table of many Fennicized surnames and the original Swedish surnames can be found on the Finnish Wikipedia, which has also been mirrored to the English Wikipedia.

Classification

Most Finnish surnames can be roughly divided into categories (with examples):

• Old, primarily Eastern Finnish, surnames, possibly containing the suffix -nen, especially in Savonia. In some cases, the traditionally Savonian and Karelian counterparts of the same surname are distinguished only by the presence or absence of this suffix.
  • Derived from given names, often of the founder of a family or family line

    Janatuinen, Lemmetyinen, Toiviainen (containing old pre-Christian native Finnic names)

    Hakulinen, Puttonen, Torkkeli (containing given names of Scandinavian - North Germanic - origin)

    Hermunen, Kuortti, Reinikainen (containing given names of Low German origin)

    Innanen, Laakkonen, Urpilainen (containing Westerh Christian given names)

    Huotari, Kuosmanen, Pasanen (containing Easterh Christian given names, often through Karelian and/or Russian)

  • Derived from bynames (nicknames) describing the person in some way

    Mustonen, Partanen, Pitkänen (containing or deriving from bynames or nicknames)

    Hirvonen, Kettunen, Käki, Peippo, Tiainen (containing or deriving from bynames or nicknames referring to animals, often birds)

    Hämäläinen, Lappalainen, Tyyskä (containing bynames or nicknames describing the origin of a person)

  • Derived from farm names, often with a substitution of the suffix -la → -nen

    Tasanen

• Occupational surnames, surnames derived from occupational terms or other terms in reference to someone's occupation

  Kilpiäinen, Pakarinen, Vakkuri

• Mainly Western Finnish surnames derived from farm names (often, though definitely not always, containing the suffix -la), or more broadly names of settlements. Often only adopted as surnames in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, prior to which they were not tied to the person, but where they lived. These names often derive either from nearby place names (for prominent topographic features, bodies of water, etc.), from given names (of founders or earlier owners) or sometimes from other surnames.

  Jussila, Martikkala, Penttilä, Taskila, Väisälä (derived from given names or surnames)

  Alatalo, Mäki, Talola, Vuorela (derived from place names or terms for places, or sometimes descriptions of the locations of the farmhouses themselves)

  • Surnames that appear to be derived from given names directly without any additional suffix in many cases were also derived through farm names; the farm was named after an owner, and then the surname derives from the farm name. However, in some cases, surnames have also likely been transferred directly from given names, although this is (significantly) less common.
• Surnames derived from farm or place names that are compounds, or surnames created according to such patterns

  Harjunpää, Honkaniemi, Kiviniemi, Lehtimäki, Pyhäjärvi

• Aristocratic surnames, many in Swedish (especially from the 17th century onwards), but some also in Finnish

  Kirves, Kurki, Orava

• Soldier names (nom de guerre), mostly in Swedish, but also in Finnish especially starting from the mid-19th century

  Kuula, Luoti, Paski, Riski

• Western Finnish surnames created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the suffix -nen attached to various terms, often appellative terms for places and natural features; the so-called 'Virtanen type'

  Jokinen, Järvinen, Koskinen, Lehtinen, Nieminen, Salminen, Virtanen

• Western Finnish surnames created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries without the suffix -nen, and derived from various terms, often appellative terms for places and natural features; the so-called 'Laine type'; such names were popular around the turn of the century

  Aho, Harju, Kallio, Laine, Nurmi, Saari, Vainio

• Fennicized surnames, adopted during the Fennicization of surnames in the late 19th centuries and early 20th centuries, in many cases inspired by the original Swedish surnames, at times a more or less direct translation; other times terms were chosen due to their meaning (fitting e.g. a Finnish cultural theme)

  Ahava, Heiniö, Metsola, Pohjanpalo, Sariola, Suomi

  Koskivirta, Lehtovuori, Paasivirta (mainly translated from Swedish surnames)

  • Fennicized surnames could also fall into the earlier categories, especially ones for the recent Western Finnish surnames and compound place terms. The adoption of surnames in Western Finland and Fennicization of surnames happened roughly at the same time, and often the same surnames could be adopted as a result of both.

Statistics

Data dvv_20230801 from 1 August 2023 by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland. The list includes Finnish nationals residing both in Finland and abroad. Surnames preceded by an asterisk (*) are Swedish.

Rank	Surname	Count (2023)
1	Korhonen	21,811
2	Virtanen	21,021
3	Mäkinen	19,421
4	Nieminen	19,214
5	Mäkelä	18,494
6	Hämäläinen	17,677
7	Laine	17,453
8	Heikkinen	16,977
9	Koskinen	16,602
10	Järvinen	15,531
11	Lehtonen	15,331
12	Lehtinen	14,478
13	Saarinen	14,205
14	Salminen	14,026
15	Heinonen	13,904
16	Heikkilä	13,844
17	Niemi	13,840
18	Kinnunen	13,682
19	Salonen	13,375
20	Turunen	12,891
21	Salo	12,630
22	Laitinen	12,313
23	Rantanen	12,058
24	Tuominen	12,037
25	Karjalainen	12,036
26	Mattila	11,614
27	Jokinen	11,612
28	Savolainen	10,786
29	Lahtinen	10,693
30	Ahonen	10,671
31	Ojala	10,491
32	Leppänen	10,333
33	Kallio	9,846
34	Leinonen	9,747
35	Väisänen	9,728
36	Hiltunen	9,684
37	Pitkänen	9,609
38	Miettinen	9,594
39	Manninen	9,519
40	Aaltonen	9,487
41	Koivisto	9,399
42	Hakala	9,299
43	Anttila	9,287
44	Laaksonen	8,795
45	Hirvonen	8,742
46	Lehto	8,730
47	Räsänen	8,702
48	Laakso	8,595
49	Toivonen	8,556
50	Rantala	8,539
51	Aalto	8,457
52	Mustonen	8,422
53	Niemelä	8,176
54	Moilanen	8,121
55	Nurmi	8,104
56	Peltonen	8,079
57	Seppälä	7,961
58	Pulkkinen	7,903
59	Hänninen	7,850
60	Saari	7,827
61	Kettunen	7,762
62	Lappalainen	7,696
63	Partanen	7,614
64	Koskela	7,581
65	Kemppainen	7,531
66	Seppänen	7,482
67	Kauppinen	7,478
68	Ahola	7,463
69	Salmi	7,389
70	Lahti	7,375
71	Aho	7,156
72	Ikonen	7,155
73	Huttunen	7,137
74	Suominen	7,072
75	Pesonen	6,978
76	Halonen	6,975
77	Kärkkäinen	6,969
78	*Nyman	6,871
79	Mikkonen	6,793
80	*Johansson	6,782
81	Koponen	6,782
82	Peltola	6,774
83	*Lindholm	6,733
84	Niskanen	6,724
85	Oksanen	6,712
86	Vainio	6,679
87	Heiskanen	6,642
88	Mikkola	6,612
89	Koski	6,471
90	Honkanen	6,459
91	Immonen	6,404
92	Harju	6,331
93	Vuorinen	6,323
94	Nurminen	6,289
95	Määttä	6,285
96	Kokkonen	6,205
97	Rissanen	6,119
98	Karppinen	6,117
99	Mäki	6,033
100	Heino	5,918

Further reading

• Mikkonen, Pirjo; Paikkala, Sirkka (2000), Sukunimet, Helsinki: Otava, →ISBN