Why does a Finnish have 'nen' in their surnames?

Question

Like Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen, Heiki Kovalainen.

Thanks everybody...
maj-len - really wish I could go to the other part of the world's continent, but money is always the limit.
I'm from Malaysia, anyway. So, Finland will need lotta $$$

Thanks to both ptr & su r.

Answer 1

No, it's not an equivalent of "son". In some parts of Finland (around Häme and Pohjanmaa) this kind of -son structure was used a long time ago, but that looks completely different: for example "son of Heikki" would be "Heikinpoika".

The -nen ending has a different kind of etymology. It originates from a region called Savo, where it was traditionally used as a name of a house or a farm (or a piece of land); the first resident, the builder of a house, gave his name to the farm and added the -nen -ending, and later on all the residents had also this house-name added into their name (to separate all the same named people). So usually when it was the oldest son who inherited the land and house, also the name stuck like modern surnames; but if for some reason someone from other house moved in, he also got his "surname" changed... But mostly these "house names" stuck like surnames because of this tradition.

Major part of the Finnish population was without surnames until the late 1800's. Then it was decided that it would be a good idea to get this surname thing official and everyone should have one. For the base of this new naming legislation (which was finally written as a first naming-law in 1921) the traditions from the Savo-region were taken, because it was already well stabilised and more formal than the "-son" -endings in some other parts. Many people had to invent new surnames at that time, and a common way to do it was to take a nice Finnish word and just stick the -nen in the end. This is how the most common Finnish surnames, like "Virtanen" and "Järvinen" were formed (virta translates as a stream and järvi means a lake). So, this is where the -nen ending comes from, and this is why it actually doesn't really mean anything (like son or anything else).

Answer 2

Finnish Last Names And Meanings

Answer 3

Sorry to say, but -nen doesn't mean son in any way.

Names with -nen come originally from eastern Finland. In western Finland surnames have often -la or -lä ending. La/lä ending forms of those names would be Räikkolä Häkkilä and probably Kovala. Names with end -nen can be found in savo ( in eastern Finland) since 14th century. First meaning name of house or man in the house(men had also their first names that followed them even when moving).First part of these names is often describing place of the house. It couldn't have been user as surname, because in small are, even though families lived close by there was usually no same names in same village.

( Women sometimes are referred with -ska / -skä end as a calling name. It could be used with surnames or profession of husband, if he was in higher place in community, priest etc. Use of it is extremely rare nowadays, but 50 - 100 years ago it was used more. Some still would understand Räikköskä Kanttoriska etc.)

In 15th century those started forming in to surnames. One reason being, that in army men were usually called with name of their home(, even when moving, so now both first name and name of house(now surname) followed through their army career). When surnames came officially mandatory those who had these names often adopted them as surnames. Some made up a new name or formed it some other way.
Before all of this men were called with -son names ending being -poika, as Mika Heikinpoika(Mika Heikki's son). -Poika isn't really used in surnames.

-Edit-
Ok I was 20 min late, even with same source. But I'll post this anyway

Answer 4

Good question, but I think you have got good answers already, but there is a lot of Finnish names not ending with "nen". Why not come and visit Finland and meet Finns with other surnames, welcome to Finland. Have a nice summer!

Answer 5

As cobra say, im quite sure its a equivalent of son, as etc, Jensen, Hansen and Andersen in Danish (son of Jens, Hans and Anders)

and Erikson, Svendson, Larson(Erik, Svend and Lars) and many other names in alot of languages.

Answer 6

Harala: Haral: (Male) previous Norse military means, or ruler of the army. Harald: (Male) Scandinavian military means, or ruler of the army. Haralda: (woman) previous English The ruler of the army. female form of Harold. Sallinen: (woman) from Sally: A princess. The spouse of Abraham and mom of Isaac in the Bible.

Answer 7

It's probably the equivalent of "son of " like "Mac" for scots, My surname is mcIntyre which means "son of the carpenter" apparently.