Hei All,

 

Just a minor adjustment to the note below.

 

Yes, the patronymic system was in use, but the name consisted of three parts.  First name, patronym and birthplace or clan.  Therefore a name such as Syneve Larsdottir Bolli is totally possible,  The clans were the stronger families which were the major land owners.  Think of the Natt och Dag clan, a powerful Swedish clan with roots back to Viking times.  Other examples  are numerous.

 

I have a large family tree going, mainly in Norway but including Sweden and Denmark as well as the Isle of Man and Scotland, back to about 1100 with very many examples of “family name” use of clan names.

 

Edgar, if you wish, send me an email off list and I will see what I can dig up for you.

 

Regards

 

Fred Enga

 

 

 

From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jørgen Sandstedt
Sent: February-21-11 9:21 AM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Old Norse Surname

 

 

Hei,

 

I'm not sure of the actual etymology of Bolli (and don't specialize in onomastics), but I can throw in a couple of things here. In the medieval period, Scandinavia, for the most part, practiced a patronymic naming tradition (such that everyone has a second name formulated from their father's name in the genitive plus 'son'). So, Old Norse surnames really didn't exist.

 

Also, Kristiansand is in the southernmost part of Norway (if it is the same city).

 

Sorry I couldn't be more of help,

 

JS

On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 4:49 PM, Edgar Widlund <edwidlund@...> wrote:

 

Hi everyone,

I the Laxdaela saga ending 28 + beginning 29 from Grace,It mentions the name
Bolli which was my mothers maiden name who was born in Christtiand in Northern
Norway.When I was a youngster in school we were asked to write about our
family roots.She related tales to me which went back hundreds of years.I never
really believed them because they sounded a little fantastic to be true.But when
I saw the name Bolli I thought that what she related to me might have a germ of
truth.I surmise therefore that it seems to confirm her surname of an
Old Norse surname to be true.Just thought I would throw this out.

Edgar