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/agente_99]

«The surname Stad comes from the Old Norse sted, meaning "place" or "farm". It was a common ending in farm names in the Viking Age and was used to denote an independent farm established by a single family.»

https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gårdsnavn

So I’d say Bjørnstad would be more like «from Bjørn’s farm», assuming Bjørn was possibly a Viking with their own land, but someone with more knowledge can correct me.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/agente_99]

Ok. I got it. Anything can be replaced for stad. It's many variations on the actual root. So like when Lagertha was Earl Ingstad, hers would been farmer place?

[u/andooet → u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

There are variations like "-heim" (home), or "-gard/gård" (farm), but it's also common to use natural features like "-skog" (forest) and "-ås" (hill)

Bjørnheim Bjørnsgard Bjørnskog Bjørnås

These are all real places in Norway (though some are not more than a bus stop these days). I didn't check how many people have these as surnames, but I'm pretty sure I've heard all of them

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/andooet]

They use these names in the realms alot, don't they?

[u/snoozieboi → u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

The cool thing about Ødegård is that (unless I have been told wrong) Øde = abandoned/desolate and it comes from the black death times when so many farms were abandoned.

Think about it, people were dying all around and we had no clue about how it spread. This is also why doctors had these crazy masks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor_costume

I believe some were open at the bottom, because they didn't know about germs and viruses, they thought the disease spread through smell and thus used strongly smelling things inside their mask.

[u/Tilladarling → u/snoozieboi]

Yep, Ødegård and Øygard both have that meaning and many of these farms were left abandoned after the black plague. Either because their owners died, or because the survivors left them in favor of better farms where all the original inhabitants had died and so the survivors moved up in the world. Not all Ødegård names are that old, however. My great-grandfather bought an abandoned farm that had been standing empty for about 50 years in the 1800’s. He took the name Ødegård after he bought the farm. In his case, I believe the home was left abandoned because the owners emigrated to Australia

[u/Spargimorbo → u/Tilladarling]

With my background from Hordaland I always thought Øygard referred to a barrier of islands protecting the coast, like the Øygarden west of Bergen. Until I visited the cemetery at Lom and found all kinds variations of the name, which given the location could not possibly mean what I had thought it meant but rather referred to an abandoned farm with various spellings. Thanks Lom - travel and learn!

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/Tilladarling]

Oh wow! That is absolutely amazing story! He was able to take over the name and keep it going. I love hearing stuff like this.

[u/snoozieboi → u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

It's the closes to the Dutch "van" I can think of. My mom's last name is from her farm, so I saw what the name was of the person that moved there. A buddy of me also played with the idea of taking his new farm location as his last name.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/snoozieboi]

That's intense. I remember reading about that years and years ago.

[u/snoozieboi → u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787]

I forgot one of my points. People did not dare to meet other people, so they invented "Brevstein", "letter stone", basically a stone you placed letters under to communicate with the world around. Or at least I have been told it was used in the Olden/Stryn area, where the famous sole survivor "Jostedalsrypa" (myth?) came from. Apparently 66% of all norwegians died form the plague.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Fuel787 → u/snoozieboi]

I will definitely look this up tomorrow. Thank you for sending things for me yo research. I love that.