This is a box of memorabilia from Norway that belonged to my great-grandfather, Gustav Olsen. It contains photos, newspaper clippings, and letters all written in Swedish or Norwegian. I had all of it translated and did some detective work regarding family groups. It was this material that prompted me to find my ancestors in Norway. The family kept in touch from 1881 to just after World War II and it moved me to know they cared about each other across continents for so long.

I found this ancestor in the box.

OLE OLSEN, BRATTESTÅ

1825-1910

My last name “Olsen” didn’t come from his last name  – it came from his first name “Ole”. In Norway hereditary surnames were not usually used. My grandfather Gustav was Ole’s son and therefore he became Gustav Olsen. Gustav’s sister Hanna was Ole’s daughter, hence Hanna Olsdatter. Up until the 20th century, the surname changed with each generation and was based on the father’s first name only. Still not getting it? Here is a modern example. My father’s name was Raymond Olsen. I would be named Michele (Ray’s daughter) Raymondsdatter. My brother Ray would have been named Ray Raymondsen. You would think this change of name with every generation would make genealogy a real challenge. Not so. Thanks to extensive census data, records of family farms, and church records that go back generations, my Norwegian cousin, Barbro, has traced one family line back seventeen generations to 1436 with Engelbrekt Engelbrektsdatter and 1377 with Rane Steinulfsen.

Another problem is that cousins often had identical names or families used the same first names a lot. For example, going back in time:

Rolleiv Torsteinson -> Torstein Rolleivson -> Rolleiv Erlingsen

My great-great grandmother, Svanov Oldsdatter, had one of my favorite names. My seventh great-grandmother was named Tore Augunsdotter (died 1694); I like that too.

Until the early 1800’s, 90% of Norwegians lived on farms. The Brattestå in Ole Olsen’s name must have been his farm.

The Norwegian Names Act of 1923 “froze” the last name – ending a most interesting way of describing a family. What would your name be using the old system?