Daily Ancestorsoldatnamn
A soldatnamn was the surname given to a Swedish soldier on enlistment, such as Rask, Modig or Svärd, to tell apart men with common patronymics.
With so many men named Anders Persson, the company commander gave each indelt soldier a short distinct name. Some named a virtue (Rask, Kvick, Frisk), some a weapon (Dolk, Svärd, Sköld), some nature (Björk, Berg), and many came from the name of the rote or farm. The custom became common from the 1690s.
The name often belonged to the rote, so a new recruit could take the name of the man before him. Two men named Modig in the same roll may be unrelated. A discharged soldier usually stopped using the name, and only in the late 1800s did soldier names commonly pass to children as family names.
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Daily Ancestor. "soldatnamn." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/swedish/soldatnamn. Last checked 2026-10-28.