NORWAY-L Archives

From: Knut Bryn <>
Subject: Re: FLAK
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 14:48:55 +0100

Chris!

I have read your mails about your connections to Flakstad in Lofoten and your
theory about the Flak name being a short of Flakstad. When Norwegians left
Norway 100 years ago or more, they were not used to surnames as we are today,
and many emigrants choosed surnames in strange ways. So your theory might be
right. However, a more common base for the choice of surname was the name of
farm the emigrants came from or had some family connection to. Therefore I will
list some farms in Norway which may give you a clue for your further research:

Name Type of farm Parish Kommune County

FLAK Main farm Byneset Trondheim Sør-Trøndelag
FLAK Main farm Fosnes, Namsos Nord-Trøndelag
Klingen,
Namsos
FLAKK Main farm Birkenes Birkenes Aust-Agder

The parish of the second farm has changed quite much due to changes in the
borders and/or organization of the parishes.

I also have to mention a farm in Høylandet, Grong, Nord-Trøndelag which is
called FLAKKEN. In everyday talk this farm is also called FLAK.

But what about Flakstad in this? Flakstad is very far from These FLAK farms.
However, a lot of young people moved from Trøndelag to Lofoten between 1850 and
1875 because of some very good years in the Lofoten fisheries. Some of these
people later on emigrated to Amerika. I have to underline, however, that this
is just some information that you may keep for later use if you're hitting the
wall. Probably it is better to focus on Flakstad.

Knut Bryn

This thread:

• Re: FLAK by Knut Bryn <>

  • Re: FLAK by "christopher flak" <>