Norwegian Surnames - Behind the Name

ABRAHAMSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of ABRAHAM".

ABRAMSEN Norwegian
Means "son of ABRAHAM".

ADAMSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of ADAM".

AKSELSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of AKSEL".

ALBERTSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of ALBERT".

ALEXANDERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of ALEXANDER".

AMUNDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of AMUND".

ANDERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of ANDERS".

ANDREASSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of ANDREAS".

ANKER Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Metonymic surname for a sailor, meaning "anchor" in Dutch, Danish and Norwegian.

ANTHONSEN Danish, Norwegian
Variant of ANTONSEN.

ANTONSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of ANTON".

ARNESEN Norwegian
Means "son of ARNE (1)".

ÅRUD Norwegian
From Norwegian å meaning "river, stream" and the archaic word rud meaning "clearing".

AXELSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of AXEL".

BAARDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of BÅRD".

BECK (1) English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian
Cognate of BACH, from Middle English bekke (from Old Norse), Low German beke or Old Norse bekkr all meaning "stream".

BERG German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
From a Germanic word meaning "mountain".

CHRISTENSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of CHRISTEN (1)".

CHRISTIANSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of CHRISTIAN".

DAHL Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
From Old Norse dalr meaning "valley". A famous of this surname was author Roald Dahl (1916-1990) who is mostly remembered for children's stories such as 'Matilda' and 'Henry Sugar'.

DANIELSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of DANIEL".

ERIKSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of ERIK".

ESPENSEN Norwegian
Means "son of ESPEN".

ESPENSON Norwegian (Anglicized)
Americanized form of ESPENSEN.

FALK Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German
From Old Norse falkr or Middle High German valke "falcon".

FRANK (3) German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Name for a person from Franconia in Germany, so called because it was settled by the Frankish people.

FREDRIKSEN Norwegian
Means "son of FREDRIK".

GULBRANDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of GULBRAND" in Norwegian.

GUNDERSEN Norwegian
Means "son of GUNDER".

GUNNARSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of GUNNAR".

GUNVALDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of GUNVALD".

HAAKONSSON Norwegian
Means "son of HÅKON".

HAGEN Norwegian, Dutch
From Old Norse hagi or Old Dutch hago meaning "enclosure, pasture".

HALL English, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Means simply "hall", given to one who either lived in or worked in a hall (the house of a medieval noble).

HALVORSEN Norwegian
Means "son of HALVOR".

HANSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of HANS".

HARALDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of HARALD".

HAUGEN Norwegian
Means "the hill" in Norwegian, referring to a person who lived on a hilltop.

HENRIKSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of HENRIK".

HERMANSEN Danish, Norwegian
Danish and Norwegian form of HERMANSON.

HOLGERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of HOLGER".

HOLT English, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
From Old English, Old Dutch and Old Norse holt meaning "forest".

HORN English, German, Norwegian, Danish
From the Germanic word horn meaning "horn". This was an occupational name for one who carved objects out of horn or who played a horn, or a person who lived near a horn-shaped geographical feature, such as a mountain or a bend in a river.

ISAKSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of ISAK".

JAKOBSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of JAKOB".

JANSEN Dutch, Norwegian
Means "son of JAN (1)".

JOHANNESSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of JOHANNES".

JOHANSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of JOHAN".

JOHNSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of JOHN".

KARSTENSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of KARSTEN".

KNUTSEN Norwegian
Means "son of KNUT".

KRISTIANSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of KRISTIAN".

KRISTOFFERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of KRISTOFFER".

LANDVIK Norwegian
From the name of a Norwegian town meaning "land inlet".

LANG German, Danish, Norwegian
German, Danish and Norwegian cognate of LONG.

LANGE German, Danish, Norwegian
German, Danish and Norwegian cognate of LONG.

LEONARDSEN Norwegian
Means "son of LENNART".

LOSNEDAHL Norwegian
From Norwegian dahl meaning "valley" and Losna, a place in Norway.

LUND Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English
Indicated a person who lived near a grove of trees, from Old Norse lundr meaning "grove". There are towns in Sweden and Britain called Lund.

NÆSS Norwegian
Variant of NESS.

NAESS Norwegian
Variant of NESS.

NASS Norwegian
Variant of NESS.

NESS English, Scottish, Norwegian
From English ness and Norwegian nes meaning "headland, promontory", of Old Norse origin, originally referring to a person who lived there.

NILSEN Norwegian
Means "son of NILS".

OLIVERSEN Norwegian
Means "son of OLIVER".

OMDAHL Norwegian
Denoted a person hailing from any one of a number of farms in Norway called either Åmdal or Omdal meaning "elm valley".

ØSTBERG Norwegian
Norwegian form of ÖSTBERG.

OTTOSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of OTTO".

OVESEN Norwegian
Means "son of OVE".

PEDERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of PEDER".

PETERSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of PETER".

PETTERSEN Norwegian
Means "son of PETTER".

PREBENSEN Norwegian, Danish
Means "son of PREBEN".

RASMUSSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of RASMUS".

ROLVSSON Norwegian
Means "son of ROLF".

RUUD Norwegian
Derived from Old Norse ruð meaning "clearing".

SILJE Norwegian
Derived from the given name SILJE.

SIMONSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of SIMON (1)".

SKJEGGESTAD Norwegian
From a place name, derived from Norwegian skjegg "beard" and stad "town, place".

SOLBERG Norwegian, Swedish
From a place name, derived from Old Norse sól "sun" and berg "mountain". As a Swedish name it may be ornamental.

SØRENSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of SØREN".

SPILLUM Norwegian
Originally denoted a person from Spillum, Norway.

STENBERG Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Derived from Scandinavian sten "stone" and berg "mountain". As a Swedish name it is ornamental.

STORSTRAND Norwegian
Originally denoted someone from Storstrand farm in Norway, derived from stor meaning "big" and strand meaning "beach".

STRAND Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
From Old Norse strǫnd meaning "beach, sea shore". It was originally given to someone who lived on or near the sea.

SVENDSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of SVEND".

TENNFJORD Norwegian
Originally denoted a person from Tennfjord, Norway.

THORSEN Danish, Norwegian
Means "son of THOR".

VANG (1) Norwegian, Danish
Variant of WANG (3).

VINTER Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Scandinavian variant of WINTER.

VOLL (1) Norwegian
Originally indicated a person who lived in a meadow, from Old Norse vǫllr "meadow, field".

VOLLAN Norwegian
Variant of VOLL (1).

WANG (3) German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
From Old High German wang or Old Norse vangr meaning "grassy slope, meadow".

WOLFF German, Danish, Norwegian, Jewish
Variant of WOLF.

	Usage
	Initial letter
	Source
	Meaning	expand search to ancestral names the meaning is anything from the name's write-up that is surrounded by "double quotes" separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to ancestral names: meanings for names further up the family tree will be included in the search
	Description	ignore name meanings the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" will match names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus will match Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored
	Origin
	Length
	Syllables	syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results
	Pattern	the pattern will be compared to the name * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters example: oo will match names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter example: __z will match names which have two letters and then a z
	Sound	case sensitive see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee will match names which end with the sound lee* (s) will match exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)rah will match names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) will match a consonant (k) will match a consonant or consonant cluster (v) will match a vowel (p) will match a plosive or stop consonant (p) will match a fricative consonant (n) will match a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
	Related name
	Relationship	expand search to ancestral names the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive will return Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* will exclude peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree will be included
	Popularity
	Namesake
	User list	enter a behindthename.com username to search that user's public personal name lists to limit your search to a specific list, put the name of the list in brackets after the username
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