Finnish Surnames

Originally Finns had only one forename followed by a patronymic taken from the genitive form of their father's first name with the suffix 'poika' - son, or 'tytär' - daughter. For example, Jussi Pentinpoika - Jussi, Pentti's son, or Ulla Pentintytär - Ulla, Pentti's daughter.

Many family names end in either -la/-lä (Pekkala, Mäkelä) or -nen (Pekkanen, Mäkinen). The names ending with -la/lä originate from western Finland and those ending with -nen from eastern Finland. This division was clearer before WWII but when the Soviet Union conquered most of Carelia, 500 000 Carelian refugees settled in southern Finland, spreading their family names throughout the country. Suffixes and changes of word stems occur when nouns, such as names, are used in one of fifteen different cases.

Where family names contain the letters -la/lä or -(n)en near the end but not actually as an ending, they are in a case other than nominative. For example : 'Pekka(s)en' genitive or 'Mäkelä(ä)' partitive - the case suffix is bracketed. Some may be of Swedish origin.

This collection of names was compiled by Kate Monk and is ©1997, Kate Monk.

Copies may be made for personal use only.