{"id":577,"date":"2016-02-06T16:51:05","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T15:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=577"},"modified":"2020-01-05T11:50:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T10:50:58","slug":"find-norwegian-place-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/find-norwegian-place-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Find Norwegian place names"},"content":{"rendered":"

It can often be difficult to find the name of a particular place or farm when searching for ancestors in Norway. I want to draw your attention to three tools that has been invaluable in my genealogical work.<\/p>\n

You might find it useful to read my article “Norwegian farm structure”<\/a> before you go on reading this.<\/p>\n

It is important to remember that the same names may have been spelled slightly differently.\u00a0The people writing down the records (ministers, census workers, tax collectors, etc.) often just spelled the farm name the way that it sounded to them.<\/p>\n

Oluf Rygh’s “Norske Gaardnavne” – Norwegian Farmnames.<\/h5>\n

This was originally published, printed in 17 volumes in the late 1800’s. \u00a0Today these books are digitized and made searchable on the internet. You can find it\u00a0here<\/strong><\/a>.
\nThe interface is fairly self-explanatory. I advise you to read the little introduction at the top of the page. The database is indexed according to the name of the counties (amt) as they were at the time the books were written. Also, be aware that the municipality-, and parish boundaries may have changed. Even if you don’t know anything about these details you can still use this database with ease as you can go straight to the “Farm name” and type in what you are looking for.<\/p>\n

\"OlufRyghsearch\"
Hover mouse over picture to enlarge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you type in the name slowly letter by letter, a drop-down menu appear and show you how you are doing. This can be helpful if you are not certain about the spelling of the name. If the drop-down menu disappears before you are finished typing, the name is either misspelled or not included in this database. As the spelling of names has changed through time it can be smart to play a little with this drop-down menu\u00a0as it can help you find names that are similar, and may turn out\u00a0to be the one you are looking for.
\nThe drop-down feature also works for the other search fields in the form.
\nHitting “Search” will bring up a list of the farm\/farms with the name you typed. The list will show you the farmnumber (second column), parish (third column), the municipality (fourth column) and finally the county\/amt (fifth column). In the first column are boxes that you can check for the farm\/farms you want to have a look at and hit “Show”.
\nSearching for names like Berg, Haug, and Li will give you a large number of hits, so you might want to print the entire list as a reference as you are working to narrow your search.<\/p>\n

You should note that when you look\u00a0at the farms in this resource you also get a list that shows how this particular farmname has been spelled at different times.’
\nOluf Rygh’s “Norske Gaardnavne” – Norwegian Farmnames\u00a0<\/strong>is not complete\u00a0so when I don’t find what I am looking for there, I go to\u00a0Se eiendom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Norgeskart<\/h5>\n

Another good map is found at Norgeskart.no<\/a> .\u00a0<\/strong>Unfortunately the interface is only in Norwegian<\/p>\n

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In the Seach field (S\u00d8K) we can enter letter by letter and get suggestions as we go.<\/p>\n

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When we have chosen a farm we get this menu. The two first items are the most interesting to us.<\/p>\n