Finns proper ( fi, Varsinaissuomalaiset, sv, Egentliga Finnar) are a historic people and a modern subgroup (

heimo Heimo is a German and Finnish male given name. Notable people with this name include: * Heimo Erbse (1924–2005), German composer * Heimo Haitto (1925–1999), Finnish-American violinist * Heimo Hecht (born 1961), Austrian sailor * Heimo Korth ...

) of the

Finnish people Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

. They live in the areas of the historical province of

Finland Proper Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland. The regi ...

(Varsinais-Suomi) and

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region is ...

, and they speak Southwestern dialects of Finnish. The Finns proper have had strong connections to Scandinavia throughout their history. Originally, the exonym "Finland" and the endonym "Suomi" referred only to the Southwestern region inhabited by Finns proper. Later, the meaning of these names expanded to refer to the whole area of modern

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Earlier, the name "Finn" meant

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

, especially in older

Norse sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the ...

. The Russian name Сумь, 'Sum', which appears in Novgorodian chronicles, is believed to refer to Finns proper. "Sums" are mentioned as allies of Swedes at the

Battle of Neva The Battle of the Neva (russian: Невская битва, Nevskaya bitva; sv, slaget vid Neva; ) was fought between the Novgorod Republic and Karelians against Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Tavastian force on the Neva River, near the set ...

at 1240.

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...

, the 12th president of Finland (years 2012-2024), is a Finn proper. Lounaismurteet

References

Ethnic groups in Finland {{europe-ethno-group-stub

See also

References