Surnames that end with "Stad"

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

Watching a bunch of Anne Bjørnstad shows and I'm on Beforiegners now. I've noticed alot of the crew have "Stad" at the end of their names. Google says it means "place". Is that true. So would she be "Bearplace"?

Lots of 'Dottirs" as well but that one I understand.

Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated. I love her shows and reading all the interesting surnames between them. Thank you in advance for any assistance.

[u/Knot_Click]

The word "stad" may refer more to a place like a small city or town where trade took place. Lots of todays cities was founded when they were granted the rights of "kjøpstad" (place of trade). We also have some places called "bergstad", which were mining towns. Today we have some cities till ending in -stad, like Grimstad, which directly could be translated to "ugly town", but it's actually a quite beautiful little town today.

Bjærnstad, I'd translate to "Beartown".

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/Knot_Click]

Interesting! So towns and people both use it at the end. I learned alot here! Thank you so much :)

[u/No_Condition7374 → u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

The most common surnames in Norway are names of places, mostly farms. In continental Europe and in Britain names of occupations are most common (Smith, Miller, Shepherd, Fisher, Taylor ...). Norway had barely any villages, so names after occupation are very rare.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/No_Condition7374]

We have alot of that too. The father's profession is the last name.

[u/ejuo → u/Knot_Click]

Doesn’t Grimstad translate to Grims place, where Grim is a man’s first name?

[u/No_Condition7374 → u/ejuo]

No, it is from the farm Grøm which had its name from the river Gróa.

[u/MrElendig → u/No_Condition7374]

depends on which grimstad.

Had an apprentice here in bergen who were told to go to grimstad and pick up something. Thankfully he called when he got to trengereid to ask if he should drive towards voss or samnanger...

[u/Knot_Click → u/MrElendig]

... and "Bergen" comes from the German word for mountains, since the city is surrounded by 7 big mountains. Old name they got from the The Hanseatic League, which originated from Germany.

A joke in Norway about people from Bergen, goes something like this:
You know what the one bergenser told the other, when the Germans came sailing into the port in Bergen the 9th of April 1940? "Finally, reinforcements!"

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/Knot_Click]

I love these threads. I'm learning so much. I had no idea about Bergen. Don't really hear it here. I'm glad I learned that :)

[u/Kiwi_Doodle → u/ejuo]

It's both