Family names and name suffixes up to the 1700s

From far back in time we know that people had a name, and often an additional name (byname) or suffix. The latter are descriptive names, sometimes describing the place they resided or their occupational title. These suffixes in time often became surnames, when a family started using the name regularly. Family names and surnames used by kinsmen were usually patrilineal and heritable.

The patronymic

Bynames were added to a person’s first name, or sometimes they were used alone, and they correspond to nicknames and certain types of family name in modern times. These could be used as suffixes in addition to a genuine patronymic. The patronymic (also known as a patronym) is a surname derived from one’s father’s (or a predecessor’s) given name, often with the ending -sen or -datter (son of, or daughter of) in Norway.

Genuine patronymics, also known as primary patronymics, are created from the person’s father’s first given name, and thus unite the siblings in a family. The word matronymic is the corresponding type of name derived from the mother’s name. A secondary patronymic, or heritable patronymic, was originally a primary patronymic which was inherited by the following generations and therefore became a family surname, for example names ending in -sen in Norway.