Could a name consisting of the word "hammer" be of Finnish ancestory?

Question

Recently I got a book about historical information about a surname. Oddly it lists that most of the people who share the same surname in the US came from Finland. Thing is, the name seems to be a compound of two words, the first being "hammer." However I always thought that Finnish was distinct from the languages of those to the west of it, which all seem to share said word.

What is the equivalent to "hammer" in Fin? Does it even sound similar?

Answer 1

It's very possible. The map has been redrawn a few times in Scandinavia. Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden was Secretary General of the UN. There's actually an ethnic group in Finland called the Hame people. There are a few ethnic groups in Finland who speak a Swedish dialect. It's very possible that your Finnish ancestor was from a family originally Swedish. The line between the two is very thin and Sweden ruled Finland until 1808. Then Russia took over Finland. So it wasn't an independent country until after WWI. Migration under Swedish rule would have been easy.

What's good for you is that research in Scandinavia is wonderful. There are four resources that will help you. Ellis Island will give you immigration information. Genline will give you Swedish Church records. The Center for Scandinavian Studies at North Park University in Chicago and the Finnish-American Heritage Center at Finlandia University in Hancock, MI will have the records on Scandinavian immigration, census records from Sweden, etc. I especially urge you to contact the folks at Finlandia. It's summertime and they're not as busy as they would be during the school year. It's also Northern Michigan where people are really heavily into genealogy. I know they'll be happy to help you.

http://www.genline.com/databasen/

http://www.ellisisland.org/

http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...

http://www.finlandia.edu/catalog/intro.p...

Answer 2

I'm sure I've know people of Finnish background who had the partial "hammer" in their surname.  From the research I could do on the spot, it means "tooth" or "gear cog" in Finnish.   Perhaps the ancestral forebearer's name was "blacktooth" or "snaggletooth" or somesuch.

And, yes, as you say, Finnish is not related to languages that surround it.  Moreso to languages in southeast europe?

Answer 3

My mates name is Bratthammer & his dad came from Norway.

Answer 4

English: hammer  

Finnish:

iskuri = firing pin, hammer, striking pin.

moukari = hammer, sledge, sledge hammer.

nuija = club, hammer, idiot.

nuijia =  club, hammer, pound.

päihittää = clobber, hammer.

takoa = forge, hammer.

vasara = hammer, mallet.

vasaroida = hammer.

No similarity at all in spelling or sound !!

Edit : The Finnish language does not have any word with the spellings :

h-a-m-m-e-r, h-a-m-e-r, h-a-m-m-a-r, or h-a-m-a-r.

hammas =   claw, clutch, cog, tooth.

or kosketustuntu = . bite, graininess, tooth.

hame = skirt.

Danish : hammer = hammer.

Swedish : hammer = hamra, hammare.

Norwegian : hammer = hamre, slegge, hammer.

Answer 5

"hammer" might in this case be the Americanized/Englished version of Swedish "hammar/hammare"

Hammer/hammar, as such, does not mean anything in Finnish. There is no connection to Finnish "hammas" (tooth), "hame" (skirt), or "Häme" (Tavastia) - as a native Finnish speaker I now that the Finnish language just doesn't work like that.

Due to historical reasons, many people in Finland have surnames in Swedish language. People with Swedish surnames may be either Finnish or Swedish speaking; people with Finnish surnames are usually (but not always) Finnish speaking..

Some typical Swedish language surmanes with "hammar":

Hammarberg (hammer mountain)

Hammarström (hammer stream)

Storhammar (big hammer)

Answer 6

"Hammer" is a Germanic (Teutonic) word. Although Finnish is of the Finno-Uralic language family (non-Indo-European) Finland shares a close affinity and history with the Germanic Scandinavian countries it neighbors. So the surname in question could be from Finland but have deeper roots in Sweden or Norway.

Answer 7

As Genevievesmom said there are Finns who speak Swedish - Many live on the Aaland Islands

see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaland