Last name change

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Katie
Viestit: 558
Liittynyt: 31.03.2011 07:09

Last name change

Viesti Kirjoittaja Katie » 07.10.2015 04:44

I understand that in some instances the last name can be changed when a male marries into a family that owns a farm. I have such an ancestor. He was born and raised a Kotäjarvi. He was not the oldest son and as a young adult he went to work on various farms until he came to the Maaninka farm. This was about 1870-1875 approximately. Mr Maaninka had 5 daughters and no sons and Mr Kotäjarvi married the eldest daughter and his name became Kotäjrvi-Maaninka. They had a number of children (sons and daughters) each one with the Maaninka name. Mrs. Maaninka died first and Mr Maaninka remained on the farm with his children until he remarried and he and his wife had one son. My Maaninka reverted back to Mr. Kotäjarvi and his wife and son were also Kotäjarvi's and they lived in a cottage on or near the Maaninka's home.

My questions: 1. If a girl marries into a family she takes on the family name as her married name. But, If a man marries into a family where there are sons and daughters and the eldest son would take over the farm one day, would this new man marrying one of the daughters change his name to this new family OR would he keep his name and his wife take it as her married name. 2. Would this couple be able to live their lives on the woman's family farm or would they have to go and create their own farm. 3. Are there any other instances where a man would change his name other than what I have described.
Please Advise
I find this so interesting.

Luonski
Viestit: 89
Liittynyt: 03.03.2013 17:43

Re: Last name change

Viesti Kirjoittaja Luonski » 10.10.2015 09:49

I have not researched Maaninka but there is a big difference between east and west when it comes to lastnames. In the eastern parts of Finland lastnames were strong and wifes would keep their own lastname in marriage. I have some cases from east where husband have taken wife's name when moving to wife's family farm, but they this is not common (there has been lots of poverty in my family so moving to other farms and areas has been usual). Basically in east lastnames have remained the same for centuries. But in west there are areas where no lastnames were used until the law required everyone to have a lastname in 1921. Instead people were reqognised by their patronyms and the farms they lived in. The names of the farms are often thought to be lastnames but they became lastnames only when the law required everyone to have one. Myself I have ancestors in west too and some of them may have been known by 3-5 different "lastnames" because the wars forced them to move a lot. The culture behind this is explained quite well in wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_name

Katie
Viestit: 558
Liittynyt: 31.03.2011 07:09

Re: Last name change

Viesti Kirjoittaja Katie » 10.10.2015 20:34

That is interesting, which explains why I have only come upon one family and possibly a 2nd which started with Kupunen and ended up Wuorona (Ruona). My ancestors were from Oulu province and southern Lapland. The changing of the names made it very confusing at times because when a path leads you to one name then pops up another you are not sure if you are looking at the same person. You tend to double guess your findings.
Thank you for getting back to me. Can't wait to read the WIKI article.

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