Soldiers were assigned names such as Rask (Swift) or Lind (Linden tree) to eliminate confusion in an army full of similar surnames, while their children at home used the patronymic naming system that was becoming customary in rural areas. Men in towns, the nobility, clergy, and tradesmen often adopted their place of origin as a family name. A gamekeeper ancestor named Sven, born to Peter Nilsson in 1731, took Sjöt;berg (lake and mountain) as his name. His daughter was recorded as Anna Stina Sjöberg, rather than Anna Stina Svensdotter.

In the patronymic system, a child was known as the son or daughter of the father, using the father's first name. This could be made more complicated by the fact that some first names were interchangeable, such as the names Johan-Johannes-John, Per-Peter-Pehr, and Helena-Helen-Elin-Ellen. Anders Persson in one record might be recorded elsewhere as Andres Pehrsson. Women usually retained the patronymic after marriage; an exception was in the province of Skåne, where the wife's last name was dropped. My great-grandmother Dortha Nilsdotter became Dortha Ola Pers (Ola Persson's wife, Dortha).

Not until after 1860 did use of a permanent family name become widespread; however, the children of the same family didn't necessarily all adopt a fixed surname at the same time or choose the same name. The father of my emigrant grandfather, Anders, was Ola Persson; Anders's brother, Per, retained his father's surname but in an Americanized version, becoming Peter Peterson; the three brothers who stayed in Sweden continued in the patronymic system and used Olasson, sometimes also spelled Ohlsson or Olsson. Anders Ohlsson/Persson came to Minneapolis in the 1880s, took notice of all the Olsons and Petersons, and changed his name to Andrew Pommer. The descendants of these brothers are Pommers, Petersons, and Olssons.

The frequent use of similar names added to the confusion. My great-grandfather, John Håkanson, was the son of a Johannes Håkanson who began his life as Johan Johansson. That Johannes/Johan was also the son of a Johannes Håkanson, and both of those Johanneses married an Elin Johansdotter.

There were other oddities as well. A great-great-grandfather, another Johan, was born out of wedlock in 1818 to Gertrud Nilsdotter. At birth he was named Petersson, but in later records was inexplicably identified as Paulsson. This Johan Petersson/Paulsson later married Magdalina Christina Israelsdotter, a woman with a name appreciated for its uniqueness.

The remaining family relationships were not nearly so confusing. The earliest Swedish record traced for my ancestors was a birth in 1696. A church law ten years earlier had made it mandatory for the clergy to keep records of each person living within a parish. These records can be a fund of information, often including how well parishioners had learned their catechism or responded to strict church discipline. My grandfather, Nils Peterson, was said by his pastor to have a satisfactory knowledge of religion, and was permitted to attend Holy Communion and to apply for employment outside his area of residence.

It is these small personal bits that make all the searching worthwhile.

For Further Reading
Johansson, Carl-Erik. Cradled in Sweden. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1972. Provides detailed information to help in understanding Swedish names and genealogical records. An invaluable resource for those researching Swedish ancestors.

Barbara Price lives in San Mateo, California. She grew up in Edina Minnesota, a Peterson in a land of "-sons."