r/Norway • u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 • 7d ago

Language Surnames that end with "Stad"

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.

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u/Knot_Click 7d ago

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".

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 7d ago

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

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u/No_Condition7374 7d ago edited 7d ago

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.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 7d ago

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