Finnish
names are used in the country of Finland in northern Europe.
Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed.
AHO FinnishAs a Finnish surname, it is derived from Finnish
aho "glade", "forest clearing". It was also formerly a popular ornamental name in Northern Finland, especially among Swedes living there. It is now a 'protected' surname in Finland, which means someone may only bear it via birthright or marriage....
[more] AHONEN FinnishA combination of Finnish
aho "meadow" and the common surname suffix
-nen....
[more] AHTISAARI FinnishBorne by Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari, a Finnish politician, the tenth President of Finland (1994–2000), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediator noted for his international peace work.
ASIKKALA FinnishCould be a habitational name from a place so named in southern Finland.
GADOLIN Finnish (Rare)Derived from the name of the homestead Magnula in Kalanti (formerly Nykyrko) parish in southwest Finland. Magnula is thought to be associated with Latin
magnus "large, big, great" and the name Gadolin is derived from Hebrew
gadol with the same meaning...
[more] HAAVISTO FinnishMeans "place with aspens" or "group of aspens". This name comes from a combination of
haapa, "aspen", and the suffix
-sto which is used for places and groups of things.
HARJU FinnishMeans "esker", a long ridge formed by a river flowing underneath a glacier. Eskers made of gravel are common in Finland.
HARMA Finnish, EstonianAnglicized form of either
Härma or
Haarma. The former is a locational surname referring to places in Estonia and Finland. The latter means 'gray' in Finnish.
HAUTALA FinnishFinnish. Topographical, (haute) meaning, “graves, tomb” combined with (la) meaning “abode, home, or land of….”
HAUTAMAA FinnishFinnish. Topographical, (haute) meaning, “graves, tomb” combined with (maa) meaning, “country.”
HAUTAMÄKI FinnishFinnish for "GRAVESHILL;" possibly cemetery or simply a person who lived near graves on a hill. hauta ("grave") & mäki ("hill")
HIETALA FinnishFinnish. (hieta) meaning, “fine-sand” combined with (la) meaning, “abode, house, place, or land of….”
HIETAMAA FinnishFinnish. (hieta) meaning, “fine-sand” combined with (maa) meaning, “country.”
HOKKANEN FinnishFrom the Karelian given name
Hokka (a derivative of Russian
FOKA) combined with the Finnish surname suffix -
nen.
HOLAPPA FinnishThe name Holappa has its origin in a Russian word holop which means “slave” or “soul” (see “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol). The first Holappas came from behind the Russian border around the 1500 to Swedish side, to the area that would later become Finland...
[more] HUHTAMÄKI Finnishhuhta (“woodland cleared for slash-and-burn cultivation”) + mäki (“hill”)
IDÄNPIRTTI FinnishOrigins remain unknown. Idänpirtti translates as 'The Cabin of The East'
ILLOINEN FinnishAncient Finnish surname derived from the name of an estate located in Rusko, Finland. Today used as a surname, also part of the city of Turku, Finland. Original meaning: a vigorous well.
KALLIO FinnishMeans "rock" in Finnish (as in a formation of solid rock, not a piece of stone). Common, is in the top 50 surnames.
KYÖSTI Kallio was the fourth president of Finland.
KARJALA FinnishFinnish from
karja ‘cattle’ + the local suffix
-la, or possibly from a word of Germanic origin,
harja- ‘host’, ‘crowd’, Old Swedish
haer. Historic records suggest that the Germanic inhabitants of the area around Lake Ladoga (in present-day Russia) used this term to refer to the Finns who once lived there.
KARJALAINEN FinnishMeans "Karelian, a person from Karelia" in Finnish. Derived from Finnish
Karjala "Karelia". Karelia is an area on the border between Finland and Russia.
KATAJA FinnishFinnish for common juniper. Originally given to people living near juniper trees.
KERÄNEN FinnishPossibly from
Keräpää, a nickname for a bald person or someone with a round head and/or with closely cropped hair, combined with the common surname suffix
-nen. In eastern Finland the name dates back to the 16th century.
KINNUNEN FinnishUncertain origin. The first part,
kinnu, is possibly derived from Swedish
skinn "(animal) skin".
-nen is a common surname suffix in Finland.
KIVISTÖ FinnishA combination of Finnish
kivi "stone, rock" and the suffix
-stö.
KOHVAKKA Finnishfrom the Finnish root word Kohva - meaning ice crust, frozen slush, or something hard...
[more] KOIVISTO FinnishFrom "koivu" meaning "birch tree". A place with lot of birches.
KORPELA FinnishFrom
korpi, a marsh type, and
-la, a suffix used for places. This surname was found in Lapua, Vassa, Finland, circa 1900 and before.
KUUSINEN FinnishA surname originating from Eastern Finland, comprised of the elements “kuusi” meaning “six” or “moon”, and the suffix “-nen” which is typical of Eastern Finnish surnames. A notable bearer of this name is the Finnish-Soviet politician and writer Otto V. Kuusinen, one of the original founders of the Finnish Communist Party.
KYRÖ FinnishOrigins remain unknown, might be deprived from the rare given name Kyrö or the location name. The earliest documented person with Kyrö as a surname dates back to 1553
LAAKSO FinnishFrom
laakso ‘valley’, generally an ornamental name adopted during the name conversion movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Often, it was adopted by Finnish bearers of Swedish names containing the Swedish element
dal ‘valley’.
LAHTINEN FinnishA combination of Finnish
lahti "bay" and the common surname suffix
-nen.
LAMPELA FinnishFrom Finnish word
lampi which means "pond" or "pool". There is almost 2000 Finns and 127 people from other countries with this name.
LEHTO FinnishFinnish: from lehto ‘grove’; either a habitational name, recorded since the 17th century, from any of the farms in eastern Finland named for their location by a grove, or in other cases a more recent ornamental adoption...
[more] LEHTOMÄKI FinnishLehto means "grove" and Mäki means "hill" in Finnish. This type of surname (combination of two nature related words) is very common in Finland.
LESKINEN FinnishFrom Leski, meaning "widow". Notable people with this name are Otto Leskinen, a Finnish ice hockey player, and Alexis Leskinen, a character from Steins;Gate 0
LUHTANEN FinnishLuhtanen is an Finnish surname derived from "luhta" meaning "swamp flood meadow".
LUOMA FinnishA name derived from the Finnish topographic word luomi, meaning "creek" or "small river". Common in central and western Finland.
MÄKI FinnishFinnish surname from the word
mäki meaning "hill".
MARTTINEN FinnishDerived from the given name
MARTTI and the name suffix
-nen, which is sometimes patronymic. John Morton (1725-1777), Pennsylvania/American politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was descended from a Marttinen family whose name had been anglicized as
MORTON.
METSÄNIEMI FinnishFinnish surname derived from metsä meaning forest and niemi meaning peninsula.
MUSTANEN FinnishIt derives from the Finnish word for the colour "black",
musta.
NEVALA FinnishFrom Finnish word 'neva', which is a marsh type and '-la', a suffix used for places.
NIEMITALO FinnishFinnish surname derived from the words "Niemi" meaning "peninsula,cape" and "talo" meaning "house"
OJALA Estonian, FinnishFrom
oja meaning ‘ditch’, ‘channel’ + the local suffix -la, a habitational name from any of the numerous farms so named throughout Finland, early settlement of the country having been concentrated along waterways...
[more] PUNTILA FinnishBorne by the title character in Bertolt Brecht's play 'Mr. Puntila and his Man Matti' (1948), set in Finland in the 1920s.
RAATIKAINEN FinnishA family name first registered in the form Radikain in the 16th or 17th century. Derives from the German man's name
KONRAD which in Finland was shortened to Radi.
RÄISÄNEN FinnishFrom an unexplained personal name (possibly of Russian Orthodox origin) + the common surname suffix -nen. It occurs chiefly in central and eastern Finland.
RAJANIEMI FinnishRajaniemi: The last name of a group of people who live in Finland. Some live in the United States when their ancestors immigrated to the US in the early 1900's.
RANTANEN FinnishA combination of Finnish
ranta "beach, shore" and the common surname suffix
-nen.
RASILA FinnishA variant of the finnish word (rasi) for a forest that has been cleared for slash and burn but has not yet been burnt for agricultural means. The suffix "-la" is usually added to the stem of the word to indicate a location...
[more] RUUTIKAINEN FinnishA rare Finnish surname combining the word for gunpowder, "ruuti", and the common surname ending -nen. The 2017 Finnish population register indicates there are 106 Ruutikainens alive in Finland, and some sites estimate there are another ten abroad...
[more] SAARINEN FinnishA combination of Finnish
saari "island" and the common surname suffix
-nen.
SALMINEN FinnishA combination of Finnish
salmi "strait" and the common surname suffix
-nen.
SALONEN FinnishFrom
SALO, meaning forest or island, and the common surname suffix 'nen' (meaning unknown).
SANTALA FinnishCombined from 'santa', meaning "sand", and '-la', a suffix indicating a place.
SAVELA FinnishDerived from Finnish
savi "clay". Savela is also a place in Helsinki and Jyväskylä.
SAVINAINEN FinnishLiterally translates as Woman Made Out Of Clay. Real meaning and origin remain unknown
SAVOLAINEN FinnishMeans "Savonian, person from Savonia". Savonia is a historical province in eastern Finland.
SUOKAS FinnishComes from the finnish word "suo" which means swamp, and directly translated "suokas" means "swampy". This surname originally came from Karelian Isthmus, Sakkola, that in nowadays belongs to Russia...
[more] SUOMALAINEN FinnishMeans "Finn, person from Finland" in Finnish. A combination of
Soumi "Finland" and the suffix
-lainen that combined with a place name, forms the noun for the inhabitant of a place.
SUOMI FinnishEthnic name from Finnish Suomi meaning "Finland". At one time this term denoted only southwestern Finland, but nowadays it is the national name for the whole of Finland. As a surname it is mostly an adopted name during the names conversion movement at the beginning of the 20th century.
SUOMINEN FinnishSuomi is the real, Finnish language name for Finland. The -nen ending can be translated as "little" or "of something" (Suominen="of Finland") but is in Finland mostly seen just as a typical ending for surnames, without any actual meaning.
TANNERAHO FinnishMy grandmother was from Finland was as is many generations according to her. Descendants are still located in Musta Jarva, near Ruovesi.
TIENSUU FinnishMeans "The road's mouth". Tien means "the road" and Suu means "mouth" in Finnish.
TOPELIUS Finnish (Rare), Swedish (Rare)Latinized form of the Finnish place name Toppila in Ostrobothnia, Finland. Zachris Topelius (1818-1898) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, journalist, and historian.
TORVALDS FinnishFamous bearer: Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux kernel.
TURUNEN FinnishFrom 'turku', an archaic word for a marketplace (tori in modern Finnish), and the common surname suffix 'nen'.
VÄISÄNEN FinnishTopographic name from väisä meaning either meaning "road" or "sign placed on the ice" + the common surname suffix -nen.
VALKEAPÄÄ FinnishFrom the Finnish
valkea meaning "white", and
pää meaning "head" or "tip".
WAARA FinnishOrnamental, from (vaara) meaning, “range of hills.”
WICKSTROM FinnishWickström is a Finnish family, originally from Swedish speaking Ostrobothnia associated with the production of automobiles and marine engines.
WIRTA FinnishFrom virta ‘stream’, used as a topographic name, also as a soldier’s name in the 17th century. Also adopted as an ornamental name, especially in western and southern Finland.