"Gordon Anderson" <ganderson@webjogger.net> wrote in message news:4218dade_3@newsfeed.slurp.net... > In the records of Hvaler, Østfold, Norway (1700's) I see many farm names > such as Seylöe, Sannöe, Spier, Haugge, Ørdal, etc. etc. But I see no farm > names reflecting the names of people who lived there. Such as Pedersen, > Jacobsen, Nilsen, etc. Do the farm names predate the system of adding > "sen" after a fathers first name? Or are the farm names a descriptive name > or term of some sort? Thanks for any assistance. Pedersen i a "fathers name", where "sen" is the same as "son". Thus Pedersen is the "son" of Peder. The farm name often was added after the fathers name. eirik