Finnish surname
This is a list of the most common surnames in Europe, sorted by country.
Albania
At the moment, listings for the most common names are unavailable for Albania. However the most common names include the following:
* Common names denoting ...
s are the surnames that became popular in the 19th century in western Finland and that are formed by combining of a word related to nature (but not an animal) with the suffix '' -nen''. The name of the type was introduced by Finnish expert in naming after the surname Virtanen, the most common surname of this typeMinna Saarelma-Maunumaa VIRTANEN-TYYPPI. SUOMALAISEN SUKUNIMISTÖN UUDISTAJANA ''Virittäjä'', no. 3, 2005, pp. 418-422 (Until 2009 it was the most common surname in Finland, later superseded by "
Korhonen
Korhonen is a surname originating in Finland, where it is the most common surname. The most common surname in Finland was Virtanen before 2009, when the number of people with the surname Korhonen exceeded the number of people with the surname ...
", which is of unknown origin).
The suffix ''-nen'', commonly used as a
diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
, was already in use in Eastern Finland ( Savonia,
Karelia
Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
) since the Middle Ages to create surnames in church records from the name of the parent (i.e., used as patronymic, e.g., Pentikäinen). Most people in Western Finland lacked surnames, and in the era of Finnish national awakening Finns started adopting "Virtanen-type" surnames, which followed the pattern of the existing surnames in Eastern Finland, but without any personal association, and the suffix '-nen' acquired a new meaning of an abstract surname-generating suffix. There are also some rare old surnames with suffix '-nen' of unknown origin, such as
Korhonen
Korhonen is a surname originating in Finland, where it is the most common surname. The most common surname in Finland was Virtanen before 2009, when the number of people with the surname Korhonen exceeded the number of people with the surname ...
.
Later, the suffix '-nen' was dropped altogether, and the surnames, such as Lahtinen and Lahti coexist. The surnames like Lahti are called the Laine type surnames, after the surname
Laine
Laine is Finnish and Estonian for "wave", and a surname in various languages. Laine as a surname originates in Finland, where it is the seventh most common"Most common surnames"*