Scandinavian family name etymology
Rank Surname Number of bearers 2012 Type Etymology
1 Hansen 54,433 patronymic son of Hans
2 Johansen 51,136 patronymic son of Johan
3 Olsen 50,655 patronymic son of Ole
4 Larsen 38,510 patronymic son of Lars
5 Andersen 37,630 patronymic son of Anders
6 Pedersen 35,688 patronymic son of Peder
7 Nilsen 35,435 patronymic son of Nils
8 Kristiansen 23,910 patronymic son of Kristian
9 Jensen 23,318 patronymic son of Jens
10 Karlsen 21,677 patronymic son of Karl
11 Johnsen 20,964 patronymic son of John
12 Pettersen 20,466 patronymic son of Petter
13 Eriksen 19,351 patronymic son of Erik
14 Berg 18,228 landscape mountain or hill
15 Haugen 14,467 landscape hill or mound
16 Hagen 14,202 landscape enclosed pasture
17 Johannessen 13,539 patronymic son of Johannes
18 Andreassen 12,218 patronymic son of Andreas
19 Jacobsen 12,016 patronymic son of Jacob
20 Halvorsen 11,614 patronymic son of Halvor
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 . [ 4 ] Today , the patronymic names are increasingly being left for the toponyms ; 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 . [ 5 ] 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 ) . [ 6 ] The listing of 20 most common Norwegian surnames : [ 7 ]
Heritable family names were generally adopted rather late within Scandinavia. Nobility were the first to take names that would be passed on from one generation to the next. Later, clergy, artisans and merchants in cities took heritable names. Family names (surnames) were still used together with primary patronyms (father's name plus an affix denoting relationship), which were used by all social classes. This meant that most families until modern times did not have surnames. Scandinavian patronyms were generally derived from the father's given name with the addition of a suffix meaning 'son' or 'daughter' or by occupation like Møller - ( Miller ) naming tradition remained commonly used throughout the Scandinavian countries during the time of surname formation. Forms of the patronymic suffixes include: -son, -sen, -fen, -søn, -ler, -zen, -zon/zoon, and -ssøn .