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I have a Finish document from the Alajarvi, Finland area with the surname of Soderbacka with (aikaisemmin Pyntarvisti) after it and am wondering if this is another surname or if it is a place in Finland? Thanks.
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Sounds like another surname. Although Söderbäck is a locality in Sweden it's just Söderbäck farm, which seems more likely to be named for the family rather than the other way round. While it just means "South Beck" (a beck is another word for a brook or stream), the particular beck in question is not officially known by that name, and only has meaning in relation to a local frame of reference. In your case the Finnish term seems comparable to "Soderbacka (nee Pyntarvisti)". It would seem both names are Finnish adaptations of Swedish names.
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Söderbäck is listed as a populated place at both the NGA website (tinyurl.com/ofh84bv) and the Geonames website (tinyurl.com/zm2znyn). However, there's also a populated place named Söderbacken in Finland (tinyurl.com/hqgqfzl) so that placename could also very well be the origin of the surname.
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Well, there's nothing actually there in Sweden. The nearest populated place to those co-ordinates is a small village called Flarken. Söderbacken in Finland seems to be a farm at the end of a dirt road. There do seem to be at least a couple of streams known locally, if not officially as Söderbäck in Sweden, including one near or through Söderbäck farm. However, for the context of the question, they are family names, not places.
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The origin is Söderbäck, a placename in Sweden. The surname Söderbacka appears to be a Finnish adaptation.
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