Daily Ancestorkirkebok
A kirkebok (old spelling kirkebog) is a Norwegian church book or parish register, where the priest entered baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials.
The oldest surviving one, from Andebu, begins in 1623, and books survive from most prestegjeld from the 1700s on. From 1812 to 1814 printed forms came into use and set out what had to be recorded, so later entries are fuller and more uniform.
The priest's own book is the ministerialbok; the parish clerk kept a duplicate, the klokkerbok. Besides the main acts, a kirkebok lists people moving in and out, confirmands, smallpox vaccinations and people outside the Lutheran church. Most are scanned in the Digitalarkivet.
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "kirkebok." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/norwegian/kirkebok. Last checked 2026-10-28.