Help with Swedish Last name

Question

Sven Bark, doesn't sound like a very Swedish last name.  The children were listed Bark Svensson, sometimes just Bark, but also just Svensson.  Would appreciate some help in what would be the correct naming.

Thanks for clarifying!

Cindy Hanrahan

Answer 1

I beg to differ with the previous replier. Bark is the Swedish word for the bark of a tree (not the bark of a dog) - and Swedish surnames are so often based on trees and forests (my own surname means oak leaf).

I looked into the records of Sven Bark, and his surname was a soldier name, assigned to him when he enrolled. He was born Svensson, since his father was also named Sven. People kept their soldier names when they retired - and at the time we are dealing with here it had become quite common that the children went on using the surname.

Swedish surnames in the second half of the 19th century were very much in flux. The patronymic system was being abandoned and more and more people were adopting surnames (that's what my great grandfather did). So, as you have noticed, names vary from one record to another. Also, if you are looking at an index, I wouldn't always trust the transcription.

Comments

I agree with Eva, Hulda and her parents would most likely never had heard of Bǫrkr.

Many soldier names were either taken from nature or representing an attribute or trait, like Modig (brave) or Rask (swift/quick).

The Swedish pronunciation of bark would be with a short "a", like in the word had.

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Also, it's not that uncommon. There are currently 990 people in Sweden with Bark as their surname, and an additional 279 with the spelling Barck.

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My ggrandfather Johan Ersson adopted the Lindblom surname around 1860. I'm told Lindblom means "flowering tree". I'm not sure if he was in the military, or where this name may have come from. One of his brothers also adopted the Lindblom surname.

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Yes, Richard, a flowering linden tree. Good for honey, I think.

My oak leaf great grandfather wasn't in the military either. He and the two brothers who got an education decided on a family name in common. The two brothers who stayed at the farm remained Pettersson.

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Thank you Eva. I know my name, Ring, also came as a result of the Swedish Army. My ancestor, Johan Larsson, was in for 35 years.  I’d be interested in where you think that came from.

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Sorry, but I disagree.

Of course it is a soldier name.

The old first norsk version, where the swedish came from is BaðurikaR as I wrote before. But not from the last centuries. It is a compound term from:

1.)

Ancient Germanic

*badwo (f) = 'battle'
*baðwō = 'battle'
*badwaz (m) = 'battle'

Proto Norse

baþu = 'battle'

Old Norse

bǫð = 'battle'

Old High German

batu = 'battle, thrust'

Old Saxon

badu = 'battle'

Anglo-Saxon

beado = 'battle'

Old English

beadu = 'battle'

2.)

Ancient Germanic

*rīkia- = 'mighty', 'distinguished', 'rich'
*rīkija- = 'mighty'
*ríkia- = 'mighty'
*ríki- = 'mighty' 
*rīkaz = 'chieftain', 'ruler'
*rīkz = 'chieftain', 'ruler'

Old Norse

ríki = 'empire', 'kingdom'
ríkr = 'mighty', 'distinguished', 'rich'
ríkr = 'mighty', 'distinguished'

Gothic

reikeis = 'rich' 
reiks = 'chieftain', 'ruler' 

Old High German

rīhhi = 'mighty', 'distinguished', 'rich'

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Oh, I wasn't disagreeing with your excellent etymology.

But the examples in your original answer were first-names, weren't they?

I still think that when they picked last names for soldiers in Ydre hundred in the 1840s they did not have old words of battle glory in mind, but simply the bark of a tree. Several other soldiers have tree names, like Ahl (alder) Alm (elm) Ask (ash tree) Asp (aspen) Björk (birch) Ek (oak) Gran (fir) Hägg (bird-cherry) Lönn (maple) Roos (rose) and Blad (leaf) Blom (flower) Gren (branch) Löf (leaf) Qvist (twig) Root (root) Stubbe (tree stump). You also get fish and fowl.

I have been looking at the search in Soldatregistret;
http://soldat.elektronikhuset.it/search.sv.aspx (no permalinks)

Regemente: Första livgrenadjärregementet
Kompani: Ydre

The most warlike I have found is probably Couragie, maybe Hård (hard or tough) and a few more "mood" names. Oh, there's also Spjut (spear) Svärd (Sword) and Strid (there's your battle).

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Before surnames were developed, people had only one name. From many names then also surnames have developed, especially in the Scandinavian area due to the patronymic naming.

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The question is about someone who lived in the 1800's and the simple answer is that his soldiers name relates to the bark of a tree and it has nothing to do with old norse names.

Other soldiers from the same parish in the 1800's had names like Berg (mountain), Blad (leaf), Blixt (lightning), Brunn (water well) and that is just some of them (the ones beginning with a B) describing things that can be seen in the landscape. So, in the case of Sven, we can be pretty sure the name Bark represents the bark of a tree.

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It strikes me that not everybody will be familiar with the concept of Swedish soldier names as they were practiced in the contect of the allotment system (indelningsverket).

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It might be so Eva, but continuing adding info on old Norse/English/Gothic name development also implies that our answer should not be considered to be the correct one.

Answer 2

Bark is an Old Swedish form of Bǫrkr.

Bǫrkr is an Old Norse name and byname

1) Old Norse bǫrkr = 'bark' 

2) Short form of Bǫðríkr (BaðurikaR)

Famous nameholder: Bǫrkr was one of the original settlers of Iceland.

https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Bark