At the beginning (a really long time ago) most people were not listed with a last name. If any distinction had to be made a farm name or a trade would be added, or a personal trait if there was something that stood out (Think of the Viking Erik Blåtann – Erik Bluetooth). The women were often referred to as the daughter of or wife of so and so. As the population grew and it became more confusing to distinguish between the different Oles and Lars’, it became more common to add

The picture above (Courtesy of afroginthefjord.com ) made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it - it describes the daily vocabulary of a Norwegian to a T. One of the first hurdles someone runs into when starting researching their Scandinavian roots is the language. Though Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are all Germanic languages and have a lot of similarities, they are independent languages and mainly spoken in their respective countries. (Danish is also spoken in Island

I was born in Bodø, Norway as the youngest in a family of five. After completing high school, I moved to France for a few months before starting my education as a technical translator in French. Having just been introduced to #family #history and #genealogy, I almost failed my first semester in college since I’d much rather sit and scroll old films looking for ancestors than go to school. So, genealogy was placed on a shelf for close to 3 years while I earned my Associates's