Fennicization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fennicization or Finnicization (Fennicisation/Finnicisation) is the changing of one's personal names from other languages (usually Swedish) into Finnish. During the era of National Romanticism in Finland, many people, especially Fennomans, fennicized their previously Swedish family names.
Many of these people actually came from families that had originated from Finnish-speaking farmers, who had previously changed their Finnish names into Swedish ones after climbing society's ladder. This was an understandable stratagem under circumstances where official positions (and even many trades) were only open to those speaking Swedish, and a Finnish name would have been more than a mere mark against one.
Notable event in fennicization was the 100th year since the birth of philosopher and statesman Johan Vilhelm Snellman in 1906. Author Johannes Linnankoski agitated the Finns to give up their Swedish names on the birthday of Snellman on 12th of May. During 1906 and 1907 about 70 000 Finns changed their names.[1]
[edit] Notable finnicized names
- Johannes Brofeldt changed his name to Juhani Aho
- Tauno Brännäs to Tauno Palo
- Aleksander Filander to Santeri Alkio
- Georg Zacharias Forsman to Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen
- Axél Waldemar Gallén to Akseli Gallen-Kallela
- Johan Gustaf Hellstén to Juho Kusti Paasikivi
- Erik Nikolai Järnefelt to Eero Järnefelt
- Armas Einar Leopold Lönnbohm to Eino Leino
- Renqvist to Reenpää
- Heikki Rydman to Heikki Ritavuori
- Alexis Stenvall to Aleksis Kivi
- Carl Johan Ståhlberg to Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
[edit] References
- Sukunimien muutokset (List of fennicized names)
