NORWAY-L Archives

Archiver > NORWAY > 1998-03 > 0888742036


From: Neil A Hofland< >
Subject: Årdal Names
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 08:47:16 +0000


Gard/Place/Surnames Used in Inner Sogn

There are 9 kommunes/districts in the Inner Sogn area of
the Sognefjord. They are: Aurland, Balestrand, Høyanger, Leikanger,
Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, Vik, and Årdal.

Årdal was part of the Lærdal kommune from 1837. In 1863 Årdal
became a kommune in its own right. There was a church and parish in
Ã…rdal olden times but the church was sold in the 1700's and the nearest
church was in Lærdal where records were kept. In 1867 a new church was
constructed in Ã…rdal and since then the records have been kept there.

The gard and place names of the Ã…rdal kommune are listed below.
Several of the names appear in more than one kommune and exist in other
kommunes of Norway as well. Many immigrants adopted these gard or place
names as surnames in America. The exact spelling of these names changed
over time in Norway and were "Americanized" by the immigrants to overcome
the missing 3 vowels or to make them more pronounceable to non-Norwegian
speakers.

The following lists contain a spelling of the names used in the
1880's, followed by variant spellings used in Norway and America in no
particular order. Some of the spellings are guesses at Americanization
and other spellings also probably exist.

If you see a name that looks interesting to you email Oddvar
Natvik at for further information. List the people
you are looking for and dates. Oddvar is at the Emigration Archives of
Sogn and Fjordane and they have most of the emigrants from Inner Sogn in
a database that is accessible online at www.sffarkiv.no.

I have listed more variant spelling for Ã…rdal than will appear
for the other kommunes because of my experience there.

Ã…rdal, Aardal Names
Aabøle, Åbøle, Abole, Abåle, Aabole
Ã…rdalstangen, Aardalstangen
Aarebru, Ørebru, Arebru
Afdalen, Avdalen, Avdal, Avdahl
Asperheim, Aspreim
Brekken, Brekke, Brekka
Dalaaker, Dalåkre, Dalaker
Hellegaard, Eldegarden, Eldegard, Eldegaard, Ellegard, Ellegard,
Ødegaarden, Odegard
Farnes
Hestetun, Hestethun
Hjelle, Gjelle, Helle
Holsæter, Holsether, Holseter
Hovland, Hofland, Hoffland, Hoveland
Hæreid, Hereid, Herreid, Harreid
Javnaaker, Javnåkre, Jevnaker, Jamåkre
Lægreid, Laegreid, Lagreid
Midtun, Midthun
Moen, Moa, Moe
Mælheim, Melheim, Mæleim
Natviken, Natvik, Natvick, Natwick
Nondal, Nundal, Nundahl (2)
Ofredal, Offerdal, Offerdahl (4)
Præstegaarden, Prestegarden, Prestegard
Seim, Siem, Sime, Sæheim
Svaleim, Svalheim
Tangen
Tolsgaarden, Tolsgard
Torpen
Ve, Vee, Wee
Vetti, Vetty
Volddal, Volldal, Voldahl, Voldal
Øfsttun, Øvsttun, Ovsttun, Ofstun, Ofsthun
Øren, Oryi, Oren, Langøyri

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