While all Swedish people have surnames now, the truth is that this wasn’t always the case. Before the 1900s, there was a tradition – the first name of the father became the last name of the children. Let’s say that the father’s first name was Anders. The last name of the child would not be Anders but Andersson, which would mean Anders’ son.
Discover more names suggestions that you’ll love.
And this is why many Swedish surnames there are many Swedish surnames that end with “son”. However, when a baby girl was born the Swedish surnames were different. Instead of adding the “son”, they usually added the suffix “dotter”.
In what concerns to the married woman, they usually maintained their original Swedish surnames. However, when the new Swedish surnames started to be used regularly and not following this pattern, the Swedish woman started to take their husbands surname as their own.
After this tradition ended, Swedish surnames started to be related with names of places and nature.
These are the most popular Swedish girl names.
So, let’s take a look at the most popular Swedish surnames and their meanings. Let’s begin with the Swedish surnames that begin with a vowel first:
#1: Letter A:
Abrahamsson – means son of Abram or Abraham
Andersson – means son of Anders or Andrew
Ahmed – means highly praised
Ali – means exalted, champion or high
Andreasson – means son of Andreas
Arvidsson – means the son of Arvid or man of the people
Axelsson – means son of Axel or ash tree
#2: Letter E:
Ek – means oak
Eklund – means oak and grove
Eliasson – means son of Elias
Engström – means meadow by the stream
Eriksson – means son of Erik
#3: Letter I:
Isaksson – means son of Isak
Take a look at the top Australian baby girl names.
#4: Letter O:
Öberg – refers to the combination of island and mountain
Olofsson – means son of Olof
Olsson – means son of Olaf
And here are the most popular surnames that begin with a consonant:
#1: Letter B:
Bengtsson – means son of Bengt
Berg – means mountain
Berggren – means mountain branch
Berglund – combination between mountain and grove
Bergman – means a person living on the mountain
Bergström – combination between mountain and stream
Björk – means birch tree
Björklund – combination between birch and grove
Blomqvist – combination between flower or bloom and twig
#2: Letter C:
Claesson – means son of Claes
#3: Letter D:
Danielsson – means son of Daniel
#4: Letter F:
Forsberg – combination between waterfall and mountain
Fransson – means son of Frans
Fredriksson – means son of Fredrik
#4: Letter G:
Gunnarsson – means son of Gunnar
Gustafsson – means son of Gustaf
#5: Letter H:
Håkansson – means son of Håkan
Hansson – means son of Hans
Henriksson – means son of Henrik
Holm – means islet
Holmberg – combination between islet and mountain
Check out this unusual baby girl names.
#6: Letter J:
Jakobsson – means son of Jakob
Jansson – means son of Jans
Johansson – means son of Joahn
Jonsson – means son of Jon
#7: Letter K:
Karlsson – means son of Karl
#8: Letter L:
Larsson – means son of Lars
Lind – means lime tree
Lindberg – combination between lime trees and mountain
Lindgren – means branch of lime trees
Lindström – means limes stream
Löfgren – combination between leaf and branch
Lundberg – combination between grove and mountain
Lundgren – combination between grove and branch
#9: Letter M:
Magnusson – means son of Magnus
Mårtensson – means son of Mårten
Mattsson – means son of Matt
#10: Letter N:
Nilsson – means son of Nils
Nordström – combination between north and stream
Nyberg – means new mountain
Nyström – means new stream
#11: Letter P:
Persson – means son of Per
Pettersson – means son of Petters or Peter
#12: Letter S:
Samuelsson – means son of Samuel
Sandberg – combination between sand and mountain
Sjöberg – combination between lake and mountain
Söderberg – combination between south and mountain
Svensson – means son of Sven
#13: Letter W:
Wikström – combination between bay and stream