Ph.D. student

Dissertation project

From Andersdotter to Andersson, from Andersson to Sjögren and Ålander. The use of family names on Öland 1860–1920

During the 19th century, the use of family names underwent changes. It became more usual within all social groups that the surname were inherited and the women took the surname of the husband. Among other things the female use of names with -dotter (Andersdotter) was abandoned and replaced with the use of names with -son (Andersson). The names with -son became gender-neutral and used as family name by both men and women. Other widerly used types of names were compounded family names as Sjögren och Bergkvist and diverted family names as Ålander and Lundin.

My dissertation project aims at analysing the development of the use of family names in between the years from 1860 to 1920 on Öland from a gender perspective. The changes in the use of family names coincide with the development of bourgoeois family. A common family name demonstrates clearly who the woman belongs to. This patriarchal use of names was first used by the bourgoeois class, probably after patterns from Germany where this particular custom has a long history, and was eventually spread to other social groups.

Supervisors

• Svante Strandberg, Professor of Scandinavian languages, specially Scandinavian Onomastics.
• Eva Brylla, Head of the department for names, Institute for languages and folklore.

Teaching

During the time as Ph.D. student:

• Composition
• Oral communication
• Stylistics and Text analysis
• Language and Society
• Language in use
• Language and Gender
• Place-names and Personal Names