nomenclature
7 articles
Who Was That Soini? The Origin of the Name of Soini Parish
An article on the origin of the name of Soini municipality — tracing it to a Savonian settler, Suni (Sven) Leppäinen, who founded a farm in Ähtäri village in 1567. Published in Genos 2/2002.
Vilhunen, Vilhuinen: On the Origin of a Karelian Surname
An academic article disputing the derivation of the surname Vilhunen from Wilhelm, arguing instead for a native Finnish origin ("vilha" = agile/quick) and tracing the family from Jääski district through Pieksämäki to Multia. Published in Genos 2/2013.
Karjalainen — Karilainen: Name and Family Through Five Centuries
A book about the Karilainen family and its five-hundred-year entanglement with the tribal name Karjalainen — and a new perspective on the origin of the name Karjala itself.
Soldier Nicknames: Heard in Finnish, Written in Swedish
A research note on the problem of soldier additional names in the Pori Regiment muster book during Gustav III's Russian War (1788–1790) — how Finnish spoken names were distorted when written down by Swedish-speaking clerks.
A Small Find on the Map
A 1650 map of Ylä-Satakunta shows the village name "Meürenen" — confirming that Mäyränen and Meuronen are variant spellings of the same name, both deriving from the word for badger.
The Genealogist's Problem: Was the Common Ancestor Mauri or Mäyrä?
A personal research puzzle: tracing the paternal line back to Juho Laurinpoika Mäyränen (1606) and investigating whether the name Meuronen of Lapee and Mäyränen of Ruovesi are the same — and what the ancestor's first name really was.
Greetings from Vantaa — Now in Virrat, 14 October 2015
A report from the Kuulutko sukuuni fair in Vantaa — good sales, interesting conversations, and thoughts on the theory of the origin of the name Karjala.