The Greater Nordic Regional Y-DNA Project (formerly the Scandinavian Y-DNA Project) is a geographic project. It welcomes members who have Y-DNA tested from both immediate and greater Scandinavia including all locations that are part of the modern Nordic Council.

Project members and the project administration team work together under the project Code of Conduct.

The Greater Nordic Regional Y-DNA Project Geography

This project is open to those with Y-DNA results from all Nordic Council countries, those with known ancestry from any of these countries, and those only suspected of having origin in the region. We are an inclusive project.

Scandinavia = Denmark, Norway, Sweden

Nordic countries = Scandinavia, Finland, and Iceland

Nordic Council = Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Aland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland

The Greater Nordic Regional Y-DNA Project Surnames

Genealogy in the Nordic countries relies on knowledge of patronymic names. A patronymic name (Latin: pater=father) is a name constructed from the father’s given name. In Norse custom patronyms and matronyms were formed by using the ending -son to indicate “son of”, and -dotter for “daughter of”. This name was used as a descriptive name for most Scandinavians. The -sen versions are mainly Danish or Norwegian, the -son versions are Swedish or Norwegian.

The patronymic system gradually disappeared and was replaced with a family last name system in all three Scandinavian countries:

• Denmark during 1828-1904
• Sweden around 1900
• Norway in 1923

Families would then choose a name, either a patronymic in recent use, a farm name (Norway) or place name from the family history, a soldier name (Sweden) or other to be their hereditary last name.

Iceland still uses a patronymic naming system.

In Finland there were both old surnames (Savo, Savolax), and a patronymic system combined with farm names and place names. More on Wikipedia.