Sandefjord in 1762: Their Names

The 217 souls in Sandefjord in 1762 shared 104 unique given names (depending a bit on how one counts: is Elen and Elen Maria 1, 2 or 3 names?). They carried 89 second/third names, many of them patronymics, some seemingly fixed family names, yet others related to where they have come from.

These “second” names that are not patronymics are 24 in number:

Ask	Langaard	Schriber
Bøckman	Langbechs	Steen
Kiemes	Laurvig	Thue
Fosberg	Lerk	Tideman Mørk
Gresberg	Mørk	Tollid
Hellevad	Neerup	Wærner
Holk	Sylnus	Weyer
Hvid	Schølert	Wright

It is difficult to draw any conclusions from such a small and un-investigated sample, but some of the names are, one can speculate, not of a local origin, and probably not from Norway – at least not originally. 

Bøckman, Holk, Hvid, Langbechs, Lerk, Sylnus, Schølert, Schriber, Tideman Mørk, Wærner, Weyer and  Wright belong in this category and may represent a set of people associated with government functions, trade, or “intellectual” pursuits – a teacher, for example. But speculation it remains.

Among the unique given names, there are many “traditional” names in the sense of being common in the population over long periods (Anne, Berthe, Hans, Inger, Marthe, Paul or Søren, for example), while others appear less usual and more interesting: Abelone, Billo, Magnelle, Magnolea, Nicolaida and Zyverine are examples (although and admittedly, the last one is a spelling variation.

Among girls and women, the most popular given name was Maren (15) followed by Anne (10) and Karen (9). Anders (9) was the most common man’s name, followed by Ole (7) and Hans (5).

31 men’s names and 33 women’s names were carried by a single person – if unique combinations of names, and spelling variations are taken into account.

Without those qualifications, there are 29 unique men’s names and 31 women’s carried by a single person – altogether 60 individuals, or nearly a third of the population.