Top 50 Finnish Surnames - Sukunimet

This article contains information about the history and current status of the top 50 more common Finnish surnames. I’ve written this one little by little over the course of more than a year. In this case that means that some sections will be more detailed than others and the formatting might differ between them. At this point, I found it more important to publish this one than to try to make every section equally specific.

To write this article, I’ve used both online sources and books to compile the most reliable information possible about these surnames. I suggest you do your own resource if you are particularly interested in one surname. You can find the list of sources I used at the bottom of this article.

Table of contents

Pre-surname naming conventions in Finland
Why did people need surnames?
Where did people get their surnames from?
How permanent were surnames?
Popular types of surnames
1. “Virtanen” type surnames
2. “Laine” type surnames
3. “Niemelä” type surnames
Most common surnames as of February 2022
Most common foreign-origin surnames in Finland
Resources

1. Pre-surname naming conventions in Finland

When villages were small and people didn’t travel very far, surnames were obsolete. People were known by their first name. However, a naming convention that was very common was to use surname-like names based on settlement names.

The houses and farms people lived on lended their name to the people living there. You were known as “Antti Mäkelä” because you lived at the house that people called “Mäkelä”. Houses were often referred to using a nature-related name. They got their origin by what was present in the environment of the house: a bay, small forest of birch trees or a peninsula could all become the basis of the name of a property.

This is interesting because – for many centuries – the name was specific to the house and not to the people. When a person moved away from the house, they lost their link to the house and were therefore no longer tied to the name. The new people moving in were then referred to with the name of the house.

2. Why did people need surnames?

For a long time in Finnish history, regular people only had one name: their first name. This was enough as long as people lived in small villages where they were likely to be the only person with that name. With the birth of cities and other large communities came the need to identify people with more than one name. People who moved to a new city often got a job there in, for example, a factory. Their employer needed more than just a first name to mark on their work hour lists and pay slips.

In addition, written administration in the 1500s brought the requirement to have a surname. In the courts, written documents such as records of crimes, fines, taxes and land ownership were important. Many of the old Finnish surnames can be traced back to the tax records of the 1540s.

The most common opportunities for someone to take a surname for the first time were usually big changes in the person’s life. They could, for example, be given a name by their teacher when they started school, which in that time period usually happened during adulthood in the lives of regular people. Another common change could be the completion of Confirmation school in the church, when they were given a surname by their priest.

The 1800s were also a time when people gave up their Swedish sounding names to reflect the Finnish nationalistic movement that was going on at the time. Up to that point, foreign surnames such as Techtonius, Fredriksson, Ahlberg, Grönros and Svenskberg were common. Many of these families would choose to go with a Finnish surname such as Virtanen. Families with a Finnish surname which they considered complicated (e.g. Antintytär) also jumped on this chance to pick a new name.

3. Where did people get their surnames from?

There are multiple ways Finns without an official surname received their name. Most of the time, the surname was given to people, rather than chosen themselves. Very commonly, the name was given to them by someone with authority. Some very common name-givers were people’s priest at the local church, their teacher, their employer or their superior in the army.

People who had been previously referred to by the name of their settlement, were given “real surnames” by their priests and teachers. Often, the name was given without asking the opinion of the recipient as to the name chosen.

However, especially towards the beginning of the 1900s, people started picking their own surnames. I find the different reasons for people to pick a certain surname very interesting. Some common reasons for picking a surname were:

They had met a person somewhere who they liked, or whose surname they liked.
Someone in their family had a nice name (e.g. their son-in-law or their grandmother’s second cousin twice removed).
They admired a person with a certain name (e.g. an actor, writer, policeman).
They adopted their employer’s name.

4. How permanent were surnames?

It’s interesting how – within one family – it was for a long time completely normal for all the sons to have their own surnames. There are many recorded instances of multiple sons moving to the city and starting to work somewhere. These sons would often report a surname of their own to their employer. Surnames were not yet “family” names. Rather, they were additional names used to identify people as individuals.

People changed their surnames all the time in the 1900s depending on where they lived and what they did. The head of a family could end up changing their name several times during their life, if he ended up moving from one house to another multiple times.

Only the rich and influential originally were so attached to their surname that they decided it was their own and shouldn’t be used by anyone else. This resulted in certain surnames being “protected”: you couldn’t adopt these surnames unless you were related to someone with the name. These days, all surnames in Finland are “protected” in that way.

5. Popular types of surnames

5.1. “Virtanen” type surnames

“Virtanen type” surnames consist of a nature related word with the suffix -nen at the end. Surnames belonging to the “Virtanen type” are originally almost always Western-Finnish names. Many of these names were adopted by people in the 1800s. At the time, romantic nationalism was very popular. Names were chosen based on nature words that people felt expressed something Finnish to be proud of. This type of surname already existed before this time (e.g. Ahonen and Järvinen), but was less common before the rise of Finnish romanticism.

However, names consisting of a nature word and -nen were so fashionable that people would often adopt them regardless of whether they had anything to do with the actual place someone lived. This is, for example, strongly the case for Virtanen, which was adopted by a large number of families unrelated to each other, just because the name was seen as being very fashionable.

The most common Finnish surname is Korhonen, but this one is so old that we’re not sure about the etymology of the name. Other very common surnames that belong to this type of Nieminen (niemi means “peninsula”), Mäkinen (mäki means “hill”), Koskinen (koski means “rapids”) and Lehtinen (lehti means “leaf”).

Sukunimi-info reports that, as of February 2022, there are 2493 different Finnish surnames ending in -nen.

5.2. “Laine” type surnames

These surnames refer to things in nature, but they were adopted without adding the suffix -nen. Popular names of this type included Aho (meadow), Joki (river), Järvi (lake) and Niemi (peninsula). This type of surname started to gain popularity at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s.

5.3. “Niemelä” type surnames

Surnames with -la/lä at their end are usually considered to be young, West-Finnish names. The nature word these surnames are based on was often chosen based on what a person’s house or farm was called in the village. At the time, it was very common to add the suffix -la/lä to express a location. A farm located near or on a hill could be referred to as Mäkelä. As such, the people living in the house could also adopt the name Mäkelä.

Note that to differentiate between the place and the person, someone living in a settlement referred to as Mäkelä, might choose to adopt the surname Mäkinen instead. This kept the surname and the house’s name separate.

Sukunimi-info reports that, as of February 2022, there are a total of 2676 surnames which end in -la/lä.

6. Most common surnames as of February 2022

This list is based on the information on Sukunimi-info’s website. You can find the full 100 most common surnames there. In my article, I’m focusing on the top 50, listed in order of popularity.

The table contains just the basic information for each name. The number of people with each surname does of course change over time. The amount mentioned in the table is based on Sukunimi-info’s list as it was presented on the 30th of September 2022. I’m including the meaning of each name’s base word as well as a concise description of what type of name they are.

To get more detailed information, you can click each name to be taken to that section of this article.

#	#	Surname	Base	Meaning	Type
1	22 068	Korhonen	unclear	unclear	Traditional, strong Savonian name
2	21 396	Virtanen	virta	stream	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
3	19 706	Mäkinen	mäki	hill	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
4	19 496	Nieminen	niemi	peninsula	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
5	18 692	Mäkelä	mäki	hill	Already used regularly in the 1500s
6	17 881	Hämäläinen	Häme	Tavastia	Already used regularly in the 1500s
7	17 662	Laine	laine	wave	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
8	17 137	Heikkinen	Heikki	man’s name	Traditional, strong Savonian name
9	16 805	Koskinen	koski	rapids	Originally Savonian, boosted by romantic nationalism
10	15 759	Järvinen	järvi	lake	Already used regularly in the 1500s
11	15 540	Lehtonen	lehto	grove	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
12	14 660	Lehtinen	lehti	leaf	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
13	14 406	Saarinen	saari	island	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
14	14 230	Salminen	salmi	strait	Already used regularly in the 1500s
15	14 039	Heinonen	heinä	hay	Already used regularly in the 1500s
16	13 987	Niemi	niemi	peninsula	Already used regularly in the 1500s
17	13 977	Heikkilä	Heikki	man’s name	Already used regularly in the 1500s
18	13 777	Kinnunen	skinnare	Sw. skinner	Traditional, strong Savonian name
19	13 506	Salonen	salo	forest island	Already used regularly in the 1500s
20	13 040	Turunen	unclear	unclear	Traditional, strong Savonian name
21	12 732	Salo	salo	forest island	Already used regularly in the 1500s
22	12 450	Laitinen	Laitha	Germ. name	Traditional, strong Savonian name
23	12 179	Rantanen	ranta	beach	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
24	12 166	Tuominen	tuomi	bird cherry	Already used regularly in the 1500s
25	12 111	Karjalainen	Karjala	Karelia	Traditional, strong Savonian name
26	11 763	Jokinen	joki	river	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
27	11 752	Mattila	Matti	man’s name	Already used regularly in the 1500s
28	10 906	Savolainen	Savo	Savonia	Traditional, strong Savonian name
29	10 843	Lahtinen	lahti	bay, gulf	Already used regularly in the 1500s
30	10 752	Ahonen	aho	meadow	Already used regularly in the 1500s
31	10 579	Ojala	oja	brook	Already used regularly in the 1500s
32	10 429	Leppänen	leppä	alder tree	Already used regularly in the 1500s
33	9 890	Kallio	kallio	rock, cliff	Already used regularly in the 1500s
34	9 828	Leinonen	leino	dial. “unhappy”	Already used regularly in the 1500s
35	9 816	Väisänen	väisä	dial. “cunning”	Traditional, strong Savonian name
36	9 793	Hiltunen	Hilda	woman’s name	Traditional, strong Savonian name
37	9 707	Pitkänen	pitkä	long	Traditional, strong Savonian name
38	9 704	Miettinen	unclear	unclear	Traditional, strong Savonian name
39	9 604	Aaltonen	aalto	wave	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
40	9 572	Manninen	unclear	unclear	Traditional, strong Savonian name
41	9 466	Koivisto	koivu	birch tree	Already used regularly in the 1500s
42	9 383	Hakala	haka	enclosure	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
43	9 378	Anttila	Antti	man’s name	Already used regularly in the 1500s
44	8 917	Laaksonen	laakso	valley	Insufficient information
45	8 834	Hirvonen	hirvi	moose, elk	Traditional, strong Savonian name
46	8 813	Lehto	lehto	grove	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
47	8 883	Räsänen	unclear	unclear	Traditional, strong Savonian name
48	8 701	Laakso	laakso	valley	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish
49	8 653	Toivonen	Toiva	man’s name	Already used regularly in the 1500s
50	8 605	Rantala	ranta	beach	Romantic nationalistic, W-Finnish

Korhonen

Korhonen is the number one most common Finnish surname. The origin of this name is unclear. Several interpretations have been put forward, as mentioned in Wikipedia’s article on Korhonen:

It’s theorized that it comes from the ancient word korho or korhu, which in some dialects means “deaf, hard of hearing” and in other dialects “clumsy”, “unnoticed” or “slightly dim”.
Professor Alfred Salmela theorized in 1970 that the word is an old Baltic loanword which refers to the village elder or village leader.
In Southern Lapland it might have had the meaning “proud, rich and boastful”.
In closely related languages to Finnish, such as Karelian, Estonian and the Ludic language, the word “korho” means “elevated”(such as for hair, bristles, hay or ice).

Even though we don’t know where it came from exactly, Korhonen belongs to the ancient surnames popular in Savonia and Karelia. These days, you can find people with the surname Korhonen all over Finland.

Virtanen / Wirtanen

Virtanen is the second most common Finnish surname. Up to the 2000s, this last name was in fact the most common. Since then, Korhonen has passed it in popularity.

Earliest records: Virtanen is not a super old name. There are a couple of entries from 1680-1700, but the name didn’t become popular until the end of the 1800s.
Origin: The name Virtanen consists of the noun virta “stream, river” with the suffix -nen. Many of the people who chose this surname for themselves at the end of the 1800s lived in the West of Finland. A large number of them most likely lived close to a stream or river.
Currently: The name Virtanen is the most common in North-West Finland (e.g. in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere) (2010).
Place names: There are 53 places in Finland called Virtanen. Most refer to the name of a building, which has likely been the last name of the people who’ve lived there.

Wirtanen is also a last name, which is the original spelling of the same name. This variant is much less commonly used (Sukunimi-info lists it as the 2 876th most common Finnish surname). The last names Virta and Virtala also exist but don’t make it to the top 100 most popular last names.

Mäkinen / Mäkelä

Mäkinen is the third most common surname in Finnish.

Earliest records: Very rarely used in the 1500s-1800s.
Origin: Mäkinen consists of the noun mäki “hill” with the suffix -nen. It’s a strong Western-Finnish name adopted by many at the end of the 1800s.
Currently: The name Mäkinen is the most common in North-West Finland, for example in Tampere, Helsinki, Turku and Jyväskylä (2010).
Place names: There are 194 places in Finland called Mäkinen. Most refer to the name of a building or estate. While most place names called Mäkinen are located in a wider area in the South-West of Finland, there are many houses named Mäkinen in the Kotka-Hamina sub-region on the South-East of Finland.

Mäkelä is the fifth most popular surname in Finland.

Earliest records: We have records of a Johanne Mekelä from 1442. The name was commonly used in the 1700s and 1800s but boomed at the beginning of the 1900s.
Origin: Mäkelä is based on the noun mäki “hill” with the suffix -la/lä. A house located at/near/on a hill would often be referred to in this way. As a surname, it became popular in Western Finland at the beginning of the 1900s. It’s likely that the people living in the house called mäkelä adopted this name. Mäkelä was a popular choice in Western Finland
Currently: The name Mäkelä is the most common in South-West Finland, especially in Helsinki and Tampere. You can also find a relatively large number of people with the name in Vaasa, Seinäjoki, Kokkola and Oulu (2010).
Place names: As is the case for most names ending in -la/lä, Mäkelä is very common as a place name. There are 2 165 places named Mäkelä in Finland, which are located throughout the whole of Finland. In addition to being the name of a building or estate, Mäkelä is also a popular name for forests, fields and other natural areas (likely situated on or near a hill).

Other related surnames with mäki and their placement (source: Sukunimi-info, 1.10.2022):

Mäki: 99th most common surname, recorded as far back at 1553, mainly in West-Finland
Mäkilä: 531st most common surname, already around in the 1700s and 1800s
Mäkeläinen: 690th most common surname, already used in the 1500s and 1600s

Compound names with mäki in them include Myllymäki (“mill hill”, 218th), Lehtimäki (“leaf hill”, 219th), Hautamäki (“grave hill”, 232nd) and Kivimäki (“stone hill”, 234th).

Nieminen / Niemelä / Niemi

Nieminen is currently the fourth most common surname, but it used to be the second most common, right after Virtanen.

Earliest records: We know the surname Nieminen appeared in records from the 1500-1800, but it was not a common name.
Origin: Nieminen consists of the noun niemi (peninsula) with the suffix -nen. It gained massive popularity at the end of the 1800s, when names based on a nature-word with the suffix -nen were highly fashionable.
Currently: You will find the surname Nieminen very commonly in Southern and Central Finland (2010).
Place names: There are 85 places in Finland called Nieminen. Compared to other surnames which refer mostly the buildings and houses, Nieminen stands out as being the name of some bodies of water and forest areas. This makes sense when taking the meaning of the word niemi “peninsula” into consideration.

Niemi is less common than Nieminen but still very popular: it’s the 16th most common surname. It’s based on the noun niemi “peninsula”.

Earliest records: Niemi has appeared in records as far back as 1377. It was also a regularly used name in the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s. Likely the bearers of the name adopted it because of where they were living.
Origin: Niemi has been especially popular for people living in a house in West-Finland near a “nimi”, ie. a peninsula or a promontory. It gained its popularity around the beginning of the 1900s.
Currently: The surname Niemi is popular all over Southern and Western Finland, such as in the cities Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa. It’s also among the 30 most popular surnames in Rovaniemi (2010).
Place names: There are 551 places named Niemi in Finland. Most of these refer to a building or house, but some peninsulas or natural areas near peninsulas are also referred to simply as Niemi.

Niemelä is much less common than Nieminen but still within the top 100: it’s the 53rd most common surname.

Earliest records: Niemelä was already being used as a surname in the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s. Likely, Niemelä was what people called the house people lived in, and by extension also the people living in it.
Origin: Niemelä is based on the noun niemi “peninsula” with the suffix -la/lä. Like most surnames with this suffix, Niemelä became fashionable at the beginning of the 1900s. It used to be popular all over Finland, with some concentrations in the South and in the Oulu region.
Currently: Niemelä isn’t among the 30 most common surnames in most of Southern Finland. The biggest concentrations of people with Niemelä as their last name are currently in Oulu, Rovaniemi and Haukipudas (2010).
Place names: Like most names ending in -la/lä, Niemelä is very popular as the name of a location. Finland has 1191 places called Niemelä all over Finland. A large portion of these very likely is situated close to a peninsula.

Some compound surnames that make it into the top 500 (source: Sukunimi-info, 1.10.2022):

Kiviniemi (“stone peninsula”): 267th most common surname
Peltoniemi (“field peninsula”): 294th most common surname
Haapaniemi (“aspen peninsula”): 385th most common surname
Koivuniemi (“birch peninsula”): 419th most common surname

Hämäläinen

Hämäläinen is the sixth most popular surname in Finland. Unlike most of the very popular surnames, it isn’t based on a nature word. Instead, the name is derived from the area of Finland called Häme in central Finland.

Earliest records: Hämäläinen is an old name, which has been recorded as far back as the 1540s.
Origin: The name means “of/from Häme”. However, this does not mean that the name is (or used to be) the most popular inside the Häme region. The people who adopted this surname were generally from Häme and adopted the name when they moved into a different area (most commonly Karjala, Savo or Pohjanmaa). In the year 1890, Hämäläinen was the most common surname in Savo. In the 1970s the name had spread to other areas already.
Currently: These days, Hämäläinen is among the top 30 most common surnames in the East and in the South of Finland (2010).
Place names: The name Hämäläinen is used only rarely as the name of a place. Most commonly it appears in the South-Karelia County in North-East Finland.

Laine

Laine was adopted by many people in Southern Finland in lieu of their original Swedish surname at the beginning of the 1900s. The word laine means “wave”.

Origin: The surname Laine was a very popular choice in 1906 when families adopted a (new) surname.
Currently: The name Laine is among the top 30 most popular names especially in the South-West of Finland. Lappeenranta and Kouvola also have a concentration of people with the surname Laine (2010).
Place names: As a place name, Laine is most popular in Western Finland, where it generally refers to a building.

Heikkinen / Heikkilä

Heikkinen is 8th in the top 10 of most common surnames in Finland.

Earliest records: Heikkinen is not a new name: there are records of it all the way back to 1560-1570 in Eastern Finland, originally more in Savonia, from which it spread to Kainuu.
Origin: The name derived from the name Heikki. Starting from the Middle Ages, the name Henrik became a very popular boy’s name because it was based on the name of Bishop Henry.
Currently: Heikkinen appears in the top 30 of most common surnames in both Helsinki and Oulu. However, it is still a very popular name in Savonia and Kainuu. For example, in the city of Hyrynsalmi in Kainuu, 18% of the population has the last name Heikkinen (2010).
Place names: Heikkinen is not a very common place name (only 20 places with the name), but you do find it in Kainuu and in areas around Oulu.

Heikkilä is the 17th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: There are records all the way back to the 1430s of the surname Heikkilä.
Origin: Just like Heikkinen, Heikkilä is derived from the name Heikki.
Currently: Heikkilä isn’t a common surname in East-Finland. However, in Western Finland, you can find it up North near Rovaniemi and all the way down via the Western coastline to South-Finland (2010).
Place names: Heikkilä is very common as a place name, as is often the case for names ending in -la/lä: there are 1116 places named Heikkilä in Finland. These places are all over Finland – also in the East.

As a first name, Heikki was the second most common name in Satakunta and Häme at the end of the Middle Ages in the 1500s, and very popular in other regions as well. Currently, there are about 87 000 people with Heikki as their first or middle name in Finland (Nimipalvelu, September 26th 2022).

Koskinen / Koskela / Koski

Koskinen is the eighth most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: At the end of the 1800s and beginning of 1900s, many Finns in Central and Western Finland took the surname Koskinen. Before then, the name was already present in Savonia and Karelia in the 1600s. In the 1890s it is said to have been the second most common surname in Savonia.
Origin: Koskinen is based on the noun koski “rapids”.
Currently: Koskinen is a popular last name in the South-West of Finland (2010).
Place names: Koskinen is the place name of 67 different locations and usually refers to a building. it’s likely that these buildings are situated near rapids.

Koskela is the 66th most common Finnish surname.

Origin: Koskela (based on the word koski “rapids”) has in many cases been adopted as a surname due to the name of the house people have been living in. It’s an easy choice when people use it for the place where you live already.
Currently: Koskela is especially common in West-Finland, with the largest concentrations in Oulu, Seinäjoki and Pori. It’s also used on the Southern coast (2010).
Place names: As a place name, Koskela is common all over Finland. In addition to being the name of a house or a natural area, it’s also quite common in cities as the name of a neighborhood, as is the case for Helsinki, Pori and Oulu. There are also several villages which are named Koskela.

Koski is the 89th most common Finnish surname.

Origin: The name Koski (“rapids”) has a long history. We have records of Koski as a last name in the 1550s in the far East of Finland. This is not the area where Koski is the most popular these days.
Currently: The name Koski is mostly common in the West of Finland, such as in Seinäjoki, Salo and Vaasa. While Koskela is also fairly commonly used at the Southern coast of Finland, Koski is limited to the West-Coast (2010).
Place names: Koski is the name of at least 3 villages in Finland. In addition, it also appears as the name of a neighborhood in some of the bigger cities.

Some compound surnames that make it into the top 1000 (source: Sukunimi-info, 1.10.2022):

Kalliokoski (“rock rapids”): 267th most common surname
Haapakoski (“aspen rapids”): 716th most common surname
Saarikoski (“island rapids”): 774the most common surname

Järvinen

Järvinen is the tenth most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: This surname has been around since the Middle Ages, with the earliest records dating back to the year 1507. It’s been most common in the West of Finland, especially in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku.
Origin: Järvinen is based on the noun järvi “lake”. It’s been a common tendency for people using the -nen suffix to differentiate between the name of the house (Järvelä) and the name of the person (Järvinen). It’s very likely that this name was often adopted by people living in a house close to a lake.
Currently: Järvinen is a popular last name in the South-West of Finland, with the biggest concentrations in around Tampere and Helsinki (2010).
Place names: Järvinen does appear as a place name, but it’s not especially common: there are 49 places in Finland named Järvinen. These places are usually the name of a house, but it’s also the name of a village near Lahti.

Other related surnames with järvi and their placement as of 25.4.2022 according to Sukunimi-info:

Järvenpää (“lake’s head”): 205th most common surname
Järvelä: 335th most common surname
Järvi: 385th most common surname
Sarajärvi (“carex lake”): 793rd most common surname
Järveläinen: 886th most common surname

Lehtonen / Lehto

Lehtonen is the 11th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Apart from a couple of cases in the 1500s, this is a name that gained popularity only at the beginning of the 1900s. In older records, we can mainly find Lehtoinen rather than Lehtonen. Lehtonen was a popular choice for people picking or changing their surname. At the beginning of the 1900s, picking a last name ending in -nen was fashionable.
Origin: This name is based on the noun lehto “grove” (a type of forest with mostly deciduous trees).
Currently: Lehtonen is common in South-West and Central Finland, especially around Helsinki, Turku and Tampere (2010).
Place names: In Eastern Finland, locations that carry the name Lehtonen are almost solely islands. In contrast, in South-West Finland Lehtonen is the name of a building.

Lehto is the 46th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have records of at least one “Lechto” in the year 1646. It gained popularity in the beginning of the 1900s. Lehto was popular as the name of a house or estate, from which it was also adopted as a surname. In addition to that, we also have records that about 20% of people who changed their original surname to Lehto in 1906 originally had a surname which contained the Swedish word for lehto “lund”. This is not a particularly high percentage, so the choice of Lehto was likely just based on people liking the sound of it.
Origin: The word lehto means “grove” (a type of forest with mostly deciduous trees).
Currently: The biggest concentrations of people with this surname are in Southern Finland: in Turku, Vantaa and Hämeenlinna. The name isn’t particularly popular in East-Finland (2010).
Place names: Lehto is part of some small cities in East-Finland (one near Kuusamo and one near Kouvola). Especially in Northern Finland, many forests are named Lehto (which makes sense because the word ultimately means “forest of deciduous trees”). In the rest of Finland, Lehto usually refers to a house or estate.

The surname Lehtola is less common, placing 248th on the list of most common surnames as of 25.4.2022. Compound words like Lehtomäki (“grove hill”) and Lehtoranta (“grove beach”) are also used as surnames, but don’t make it to the top 1000 surnames in Finland.

Lehtinen

Lehtinen is the 12th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Lehtinen is considered a young, Western Finnish surname, adopted by many in the beginning of the 1900s, when romantic nationalism caused names based on a nature word with the suffix -nen to be very popular.
Origin: Lehtinen is based on the noun lehti “leaf”.
Currently: Lehtinen is a popular last name in South and West Finland, with the biggest concentrations in the big cities Helsinki, Tampere and Turku (2010).
Place names: Lehtinen is fairly popular as a place name. There are 89 places in Finland called Lehtinen, of which most are near the Western coastline. Many different types of places are called Lehtinen. Among another things, Lehtinen is the name of some stretches of land, fields, meadows, houses and islands.

Other related surnames with lehti and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Lehtimäki (“leaf hill”): 219th most common surname
Lehti: 405th most common surname
Lehtilä: 1 597th most common surname

Saarinen / Saari

Saarinen is the 13th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Saarinen is a fairly young last name, which gained popularity at the end of the 1800s. Some earlier records of a version of the name do exist, such as Sarijn in the middle of the 1500s and Scharijn at the end of the 1600s.
Origin: This name is based on the noun saari “island”. While many surnames are based on the house people lived on, based on records, it’s likely that Saarinen was given to people who didn’t own a house by their priests.
Currently: Saarinen is common in South-West and Central Finland, especially around Helsinki, Turku and Tampere (2010).
Place names: In Eastern Finland, locations that carry the name Saarinen are mainly houses. In Central Finland Saarinen is also frequently the name of an island.

Saari is the 60th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Saari was already used as a surname in the 1500s in a wide area in South, Central and West Finland. Of those places, it has been especially common in Ostrobothnia, on the West coast of Finland.
Origin: Saari means “island”.
Currently: Saari is most common in Western Finland, especially in Seinäjoki, Kokkola and Vaasa (2010).
Place names: There are at least 10 villages in Finland called Saari, and it’s also a popular name for buildings and estate houses. In addition, many natural areas have (unsurprisingly) been named Saari. People have the tendency to name locations based on their outward appearance.

Other related surnames with saari and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Saarela: 148th most common surname
Saarelainen: 467th most common surname
Palosaari (“fire island”): 599th most common surname
Saarenpää (“island’s head”): 744th most common surname
Saarikoski (“island rapids”): 774th most common surname

Salminen / Salmi

Salminen is the 14th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Both Salminen and Salmi were already used in the 1500s. This name gained popularity at the end of the 1800s when people started adopting surnames that reflected their pride in their national heritage.
Origin: This name is based on the noun salmi “stait”, which is a narrow strip of water which can connect two lakes to one another, where they are otherwise separated by land. It’s likely to have been popular for people who lived in a building or farm near a strait.
Currently: Salminen is a popular last name in South-West and central Finland (2010).
Place names: As a place name, Salminen appears as the name of a lake in Eastern Finland. In Western Finland, Salminen is most commonly the name of a building. It’s also the name of at least 4 Finnish villages. It’s likely that all of these places were located close to a strait

Salmi is the 69th most common Finnish surname.

Origin: Both Salminen and Salmi were already used in the 1500s. It’s likely to have been popular for people who lived in a building or farm near a strait.
Currently: These days, Salmi is most common in Hyvinkää, Riihimäki, Nurmijärvi and Järvenpää, which are all located North of Helsinki. In addition, it’s also a fairly popular name in the North-West cities Kemi, Tornio and Ylitornio (2010).
Place names: There are places named Salmi all over Finland, usually named after the strait they were close to: forests, bodies of water and important estates. In addition, Salmi is also the name of at least 3 villages in Finland as well as some neighborhoods.

The surname Salmela places 126th as of 25.4.2022. There are a large number of other surnames that include the word salmi (e.g. Kortesalmi, Salmijärvi and Alasalmi) but none of them make it into the top 1000 surnames.

Heinonen

Heinonen is the 15th most common Finnish surname. It’s based either on the noun heinä “hay” or the boy’s name Heino. Heino is also a first name for boys, but this likely hasn’t been the reason people started adopting this surname.

Origin: The history of Heinonen is interesting because it likely was adopted as a surname for a different reason in different time periods. It’s likely that Heinonen was used in the Middle Ages because of its connection to the name Heinrich. During this period (in the 1500s), the name was more popular in Savonia and Karelia. Near the end of the 1800s, the name was more likely adopted because it reminded people of the noun heinä “hay”, during the period where people found it fashionable to adopt a surname related to nature with the suffix -nen.
Currently: Heinonen is common in Central and South-East Finland (2010).
Place names: Heinonen is not especially common as a place name, but it does appear as the name of a building or estate in Eastern Finland.

Heino is the 101st most common surname as of 26.4.2022, so unfortunately it falls just short of making the top 100! The surname Heinola places 1350th. Based on the same word is also Heinänen, but this surname places 798th in the list of most popular Finnish surnames as of 26.4.2022.

Kinnunen

Kinnunen is the 18th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: In the 1500s Kinnunen was a popular Savonian name. From there, the name spread to Karelia and Kainuu, ie. all over the Eastern side of Finland. Kinnunen is considered a strong Savonian name.
Origin: The name is likely based on the Swedish word “skinnare”, which means skinner or flayer. This is most likely because, historically, Karelians were known for trading fur as a living.
Currently: Kinnunen is within the top 30 most common names in most municipalities in Finland (e.g. in the cities Joensuu and Jyväskylä), but much less common in Lapland and the South-West of Finland (2010).
Place names: Kinnunen is rare as a place name.

Salonen / Salo

Salonen is the 19th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: The oldest records of the name Salonen are from the 1500s in South-Karelia. The name gained some popularity around the 1870s, when surnames consisting of a nature word with the -nen suffix became fashionable. However, there are some records that show that some people changed their name to something less common at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. This probably also occurred for other names, but this is the only name in the list where this is specifically mentioned in my research.
Origin: Back when the name gained popularity, salo mainly referred to an island on which there was a forest area. These days, the word salo has a slightly different meaning. Usually, just means a large forested area, which doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with islands.
Currently: Salonen is common in Central and South-West Finland. The name has largely disappeared from its original location of Karelia (2010).
Place names: Salonen is fairly rare as a place name. Usually, it is used as the name of an estate or building.

Salo is the 21st most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: There are records of the surname Salo as far back as the 1500s, but it was adopted by many people at the beginning of the 1900s. Interestingly enough, the name did not gain much popularity in the municipality of Southwest Finland, where short names were the most fashionable by far around that period. Instead, it was popular in Tavastia and Uusimaa (which are located further East).
Origin: Back when the name gained popularity, salo mainly referred to an island on which there was a forest area.
Currently: Salo is predominantly used in Western Finland, both in the South in cities such as Helsinki and Espoo, and across the West coast in e.g. Kokkola and Seinäjoki.
Place names: First and foremost, we have to mention that Salo is a town and municipality of South-West Finland with a population of about 51 000 people. In addition, many compound place names ending in Salo are located on large islands close to a beach, especially in the island-rich central Finland regions.

Other related surnames with salo and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Salomaa (“backwoods land”): 366th most common surname
Sinisalo (“blue backwoods”): 430th most common surname
Salovaara (“backwoods low hill”): 640th most common surname
Saloranta (“backwoods beach”): 856th most common surname
Salomäki (“backwoods hill”): 896th most common surname

Note that salo didn’t necessarily mean “backwoods” back in the day. These days, it is associated with large forested areas in general, but historically it was used specifically for islands with large forests on them.

Turunen

Turunen is the 20th most common Finnish surname. I don’t know what word this surname is based on.

Origin: The name Turunen was already popular in the 1600s, with a few records of it already being used in the middle of the 1500s. It has been especially common in Savonia, where there were approximately 1500 to 2000 people named Turunen in the countryside alone. It’s considered an old Savonian-Karelian surname.
Currently: These days as well, Turunen is most popular in Savonia and Karelia, though there are also concentrations of this last name in Southern Finland in Lappeenranta and around the areas of Espoo and Vantaa (2010).
Place names: Turunen is not common as a place name.

The surnames Turula and Turu also exist, but don’t even make it to the top 5000 most popular surnames.

Laitinen

Laitinen is the 22nd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Laitinen is considered an important old Karelian-Savonian surname, of which we have records all the way back to the 1500s. While the name has been adopted also outside of Savonia since then, it can still be considered a strong Savonian name.
Origin: Laitinen is likely based on a Germanic name, which has been found in the following variants: Laitha/Laitu/Lethu/Ledi/Leta. This theory is backed up by the Swedish name for the parish Letala/Lethala.
Currently: Laitinen is still very popular in Savonia as well as in the municipality of Central Finland. The name has also spread to the Helsinki region (2010).
Place names: Laitinen is not a common place name.

As of 25.4.2022, the surname Laitila placed 452nd in the list of most common Finnish surnames, while Laiti falls far behind, not even making it to the top 4000 of Finnish surnames.

Tuominen

Tuominen is the 22nd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have records for Tuominen as a surname all the way back to the middle of the 1500s. The surname was by far the most popular in South-Western Finland as well as along the Western coast of Finland.
Origin: The name is likely based on the noun tuomi, which is a plant known as bird cherry, hackberry, hagberry or Mayday tree in English. Back then, the plant was used for medicinal purposes and a preventive element for the plague.
Currently: Tuominen is most common in Western and Central Finland, especially in the bigger cities Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Espoo (2010).
Place names: Tuominen is uncommon as a place name, but it is used as the name of a building or estate in the same areas where it’s common as a surname.

The surnames Tuomi, Tuomela, Tuomola and Tuomisto don’t make the top 100.

Rantanen / Rantala

Rantanen is the 24th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: The oldest mentions of Rantanen are from 1550-1570 from South-Karelia. It became popular at the beginning of the 1900s, when nature words with the suffix -nen were very fashionable. It turned out it was so fashionable that after the initial boom some people did change their surname to something a little less common.
Origin: Rantanen is based on the noun ranta “beach, shore”.
Currently: This name is most popular in the South-West corner and the West-Central area of Finland. It doesn’t make it to the top 30 surnames of any of the Eastern or Northern municipalities of Finland (2010).
Place names: There are 81 places in Finland which are named Rantanen. They either refer to a terrain, a field or meadow or a house.

Rantala is the 50th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: One of the earliest mentions of the name in surviving records was in 1411 already. It became popular in the early 1900s, when people started adopting nature related names.
Origin: The word ranta means “beach, shore”. It has been common all through Finland to refer to place names such as houses, fields and settlements using the suffix -la/lä. This means Rantala was likely first the name of the house people lived in rather than the surname of the people themselves.
Currently: Rantala is a popular last name in the South-West corner of Finland, less towards the center of Finland than Rantanen (2010).
Place names: Rantala is extremely common as a place name. There are over 1700 places named Rantala in Finland, many of which are houses and estates. Rantala is also the name of villages or neighborhoods, e.g. near Riihimäki, near Punkalaidun and near Pälkäne.

Other related surnames with ranta and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Ranta: 135th most common surname
Eloranta: 371st most common surname. It’s hard to give one translation for Eloranta. In historic spoken Finnish, the word elo has meant (among other things) grain, rye, cattle, game and possession.
Kiviranta (“stone beach”): 753th most common surname
Saloranta (“backwoods beach”): 865th most common surname
Saarikoski (“island rapids”): 865th most common surname

Karjalainen

Karjalainen is the 25th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: In the 1500s Karjalainen was a very popular surname in Savonia; not so much in Karelia. The large influx of the surname Karjalainen is explained by people moving away from Karelia being referred to as having been an inhabitant of Karelia. In the 1600s such a large number of people named Karjalainen moved to Kainuu that it has been considered a name very typical to the area. Both the provinces Kainuu and Savonia are located near Karelia.
Origin: The name is made up of the noun Karjala (referring to the area called Karelia at the Finland-Russian border) with the suffix -lainen expressing that the bearer of the name is “of the Karelian people”.
Currently: Karjalainen is one of the rare surnames which are common in Northern Finland. It’s not especially common in the West of Finland. The name is particularly common in the cities Kajaani, Oulu, Kuusamo and Rovaniemi (2010).
Place names: Karjalainen is rare as a place name.

Jokinen

Jokinen is the 26th most common Finnish surname.

Origin: The surname Jokinen is based on the noun joki “river”, with the suffix -nen which became popular at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. The name has popularly been adopted by people living on a property near the shore of a river. Often, the house of those people was referred to as Jokela. Rather than taking the surname Jokela, a portion of these people opted for Jokinen instead. The name has also been fashionable among people not living near a river at all.
Currently: Jokinen is most common in the cities Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Jyväskylä, in the South and central regions of Finland (2010). These are also the same regions the name was historically popular in.
Place names: As a place name, Jokinen is fairly common, and most often refers to a building or property in the West of Finland in the province called Satakunta.

Related surnames are Jokela (147th most common surname) and Jokelainen (726th most common surname).

Mattila

Mattila is the 27th most common Finnish surname. It’s based on the first name Matti.

Origin: The Matti-part of Mattila often refers to the name of an elder or ancestor of people with the surname. These days, it is of course no longer possible to retrace people’s ancestry all the way back to the original Matti, but it has been a factor for people taking the surname in the 1500s and later. Likely the house of the people living there was also called Mattila in the community.
Currently: Mattila is common in the South and the West of Finland, as well as higher up in the regions of Oulu and Raahe (2010).
Place names: Mattila is extremely common as a place name: 1019 places carry the name. It is used extremely commonly in reference to a house or estate, and it also appears as the name of a neighborhood or region.

The surname Mattinen places 1540th in the list of most common Finnish surnames.

Savolainen

Savolainen is the 28th most common Finnish surname. The name is made up of the noun Savo (referring to the area called Savonia in Eastern Finland) with the suffix -lainen expressing that the bearer of the name is “of the Savonian people”.

Origin: Usually surnames ending in -lainen are used mostly outside of the region they are named after. For Savolainen, however, the name is popular within Savonia. Likely at least a portion of these people were from a village called Savo rather than from the larger region where the name is popular now. These people from the village might, when moving to different towns within Savo, still have been considered to come from the village. The surname has been very popular all the way back to the 1600s.
Currently: Savolainen is a common surname in Savonia and Kainuu in cities like Kuopio, Iisalmi and Siilinjärvi, in Central-Finland’s Jyväskylä and Äänekoski, and in the wider area around Helsinki and Espoo (2010).
Place names: Savolainen is very rare as a place name.

Lahtinen / Lahti

Lahtinen is the 29th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have records of this name all the way back to the 1460s! The surname gained popularity like many names ending in -nen did: at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s names based on a nature word became very popular due to the romantic nationalism movement that was popular around that time.
Origin: The name consists of the noun lahti “bay, gulf” with the suffix -nen.
Currently: Lahtinen is common in South and Central Finland, with large concentrations, for example, in Tampere, Jyväskylä and Jämsä (2010).
Place names: Lahtinen is to some extent used as the name of a building or estate, especially in Pohjanmaa, Etelä-Pohjanmaa and Keski-Pohjanmaa (so in West-Finland around Vaasa, Kokkola and Seinäjoki).

Lahti is the 70th most common Finnish surname. This name means “gulf” or “bay”.

Origin: Lahti became especially popular as a surname in the beginning of the 1900s. We have records of 124 families taking the surname Lahti in the big boom of surnames in the year 1906.
Currently: Lahti is especially common in West-Finland in Seinäjoki, Kauhava and Kokkola, which are the same areas where the place name Lahtinen is common (2010). There might be a connection there: people might have chosen their name based on the place name.
Place names: In contrast with the previous section, Lahti as a place name is popular all over the country. There are a total of 245 places called Lahti. The first one that comes to mind, of course, is the city of Lahti with more than 120 000 citizens. Other places called Lahti are usually houses and estates, but there are some neighborhoods and ancient villages called Lahti as well.

The surname Lahtela is the 999th most popular surname in Finland (fun number!) at the time of writing this article.

Ahonen / Ahola / Aho

Ahonen is the 30th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: The surname Ahonen (or Ahoinen) was already pretty common back in the 1500s and 1600s. It gained additional popularity at the end of the 1800s, especially in Savonia. By 1970, however, the name had spread out significantly to the point that it was no longer considered typically Savonian.
Origin: This name is based on the noun aho which refers to grasslands that have previously been used as fields. The meaning of the name partly explains why it’s so common.
Currently: The biggest concentrations of the surname Ahonen are (in addition to Helsinki) in a wide circle around the inland cities Tampere and Jyväskylä. In most of Savo, Ahonen no longer places in the list of 30 most common surnames (2010).
Place names: Ahonen is the name of 24 places in Finland, most of which are just estates in Western Finland or near Hamina in the South-East.

Ahola is the 68th most common Finnish surname.

Origin: The name Ahola was used to refer to a house built at the edge of an aho (a grassland that was previously used for growing crops). Thus, families living there can have decided to adopt this name as their own surname at the turn of the 19th century. It’s also entirely possible that, for a large amount of people, this had nothing to do with it. The reason for people adopting or changing their last name generally has not been recorded.
Origin: This name is based on the noun aho which refers to grasslands that have previously been used as fields.
Currently: Ahola is a popular surname in Kouvola. It also appears in the top 30 most common surnames in most of West-Finland and some cities in Lapland (2010).
Place names: Like most names ending in -la/lä, Ahola is a very popular place name. There are 1522 places in Finland named Ahola. First, it’s the name of at least 5 villages in Finland. In addition, there are hundreds of houses and estates called Ahola, as well as at least 100 natural areas, and these are located all over Finland.

Aho is the 73rd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Aho was already popular in the 1500s. In the 1800s and 1900s, Aho was a popular choice, possibly because it’s such a short name and right at the beginning of the alphabet.
Origin: The noun aho refers to grasslands that have previously been used as fields.
Currently: Just plain Aho is most commonly a surname in the West of Finland. Unlike most surnames, it isn’t especially common in South-West Finland. You will find it higher up North, especially around Vaasa, Raahe and Tornio (2010).
Place names: There are 303 places in Finland named Aho, most of which are situated in Western or Upper-Central Finland.

Ojala

Ojala is the 31st most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We know Ojala was used as a surname as early as the 1470s, where it likely was first used as the name of a location or house.
Origin: The word oja means “ditch”, but it has also meant a narrow groove full of water or a pond. It was very common to live near a body of water back when farming was a popular profession. Many Finnish names are based on nature words
Currently: Ojala is a common last name all over the West of Finland, with concentrations in the cities of Oulu, Seinäjoki and Kokkola (2010).
Place names: There are 1049 places named Ojala in Finland, as is typical for surnames that end in -la/lä. It’s the name of many houses and estates all over Finland. There is a neighborhood near Tampere called Ojala.

Other related surnames with oja and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Ojanen: 290th most common surname
Kivioja (“stone ditch”): 526th most common surname
Ojanperä (“ditch’s back”): 628th most common surname
Oja: 681st most common surname

Leppänen

Leppänen is the 32nd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: The surname Leppänen was already used regularly in the 1500s and the 1600s. While it was fairly commonly used in the East of Finland, the name spread so far out of the region that it was no longer considered a typical Savonian name in the 1970s. This is mostly due to the boom of nature names with the suffix -nen in Western Finland in the early 1900s.
Origin: The name Leppänen is based on the noun leppä “alder tree”.
Currently: Leppänen is common in the center of Finland in cities such as Lahti, Tampere and Jyväskylä. It’s also common in the East-Finland city of Joensuu and the surrounding area (2010).
Place names: There are a total of 65 places in Finland that are named Leppänen. Most of them are the names of houses or estates in the West of Finland. In the center of Finland, there are some natural sights such as islands which carry the name Leppänen.

Other related surnames with leppä and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Lepistö: 177th most common surname
Leppälä: 459th most common surname

Kallio

Kallio is the 33rd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have fairly extensive records of the surname Kallio starting from the late 1400s.
Origin: The word kallio refers to bedrock which rises from the earth. In some cases, this rock is more of a cliff. Kallio was a fairly popular name to adopt at the very beginning of the 1900s.
Currently: The surname Kallio is mostly found in the West of Finland. The biggest concentrations are located in Tampere, Seinäjoki and Salo (2010).
Place names: There are 550 places named Kallio in Finland which are spread all over the country. There are a couple of villages named Kallio, and it’s also the name of a neighborhood in Parkano and Helsinki. Most of the places named Kallio are houses or estates, but there are also fairly many islands which carry the name Kallio.

Other related surnames with kallio and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Kalliokoski (“cliff rapids”): 392nd most common surname
Kalliomäki (“cliff hill”): 535th most common surname
Kallioniemi (“cliff peninsula”): 936th most common surname

Leinonen

Leinonen is the 34th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Leinonen is an old name, which was already popular in the Middle Ages. It was used both in the South-West and the Eastern regions of Savonia and Karelia.
Origin: The base word leino of the name Leinonen has in old dialects meant “sad, unhappy, weak, feeble”. It gained a (surprising amount of) popularity in the romantic nationalism period at the end of the 1800s.
Currently: The surname Leinonen is most common in Eastern Finland and the upper-middle of Finland. It’s especially common in the cities Kajaani and Oulu as well in the municipality Paltamo of about 3000 inhabitants, where it is the surname of 7 % of the population.
Place names: The name Leinonen isn’t popular as the name of a location in Finland.

Väisänen

Väisänen is the 35th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Väisänen is an old, common surname in Savonia (in the East of Finland). Because it’s not based on a natural element, it’s likely not been fashionable to adopt as a surname in the 1800s and 1900s, unlike other surnames ending in -nen.
Origin: The name Väisänen is likely based on the regional dialect word väisä, which has been used to refer to a road sign placed on the ice of a lake, or to a person who’s cunning or sly. In the latter case, it has likely been used as a nickname for someone in the village who was considered to be sly, which has later been expanded as a surname.
Currently: Cities where Väisänen is particularly popular are Oulu, Mikkeli, Kuopio and Kajaani (2010).
Place names: Väisänen is not popular as a place name.

Hiltunen

Hiltunen is the 36th most common Finnish surname. rock/cliff

Earliest records: The name Hiltunen was already very popular in the 1500s in Savonia.
Origin: Hiltunen is based on first names such as Hildi and Hilda, which are ancient Germanic names based on Hildebrand and Hildegund.
Currently: Hiltunen is a common surname in Savonia and Northern Karelia in the East of Finland. It’s also popular higher up North, for example in Oulu and Rovaniemi. There’s also a concentration of this surname in Vantaa for some reason (1210).
Place names: Hiltunen is not popular as a place name.

Pitkänen

Pitkänen is the 37th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: This old surname has been commonly used in Savonia and Karelia in the East of Finland since the 1500s.
Origin: Pitkänen is based on the adjective pitkä “long”, which was probably originally used as a descriptor for one of the forefathers of the Pitkänen families.
Currently: Pitkänen is and has always been considered a typical Savonian surname. It’s most prevalent in Jyväskylä and the area around Kuopio. In addition, Pitkänen is also a common name around Espoo (at the Southern border of Finland) and around Kuusamo (in North-East Finland (2010).
Place names: Pitkänen is the name of 32 locations in Finland, so it’s not very common.

Miettinen

Miettinen is the 38th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have records from the 1500s of 1600s of Miettin, Meettinen, Mettinen and Miettuinen, which probably all were different spellings of Miettinen.
Origin: There are many theories as to where the surname Miettinen comes from. It might have been derived from the verb miettiä “to think”. It’s also possible that the name has been derived from the Batlic or Germanic name Mieto. There are other theories as well, which you can read about in the book “Sukunimet” by Pirjo Mikkonen and Sirkka Paikkala
Currently: Miettinen is considered an important, traditional Savonian surname, used both in Savonia and Karelia. In the municipality of Tuusniemi (population of about 2400) a total of 6 % of the population is named Miettinen. You can also find a large concentration of the name Miettinen around Helsinki (2010).
Place names: Miettinen is not popular as a place name.

Aaltonen / Aalto

Aaltonen is the 39th most common Finnish surname, while Aalto is the 52nd most common one. I’m combining both in this section because information on either name is scarce and the information that is available is extremely similar for both names

Earliest records: I haven’t been able to find much on the history of these names beyond the 1900s. The earliest mention of Aaltonen I can find is 1882, when a person with the surname Paulin changed it to Aaltonen. No older sources for Aalto came up at all.
Origin: Aaltonen consists of the noun aalto “wave” with the suffix -nen. Both Aaltonen and Aalto were fashionable and popular names in the beginning of the 1900s during the romantic nationalism period.
Currently: Aaltonen and Aalto are most popular in the South-West corner of Finland, especially in Turku and Helsinki (2010).
Place names: Neither name is popular as a place name.

Manninen

Manninen is the 40th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: This old surname has been commonly used in Savonia and Karelia in the East of Finland since the 1500s. At the end of the 1800s it started to pop up in the West as well.
Origin: This name could have two different origins. Firstly, it could be based on names containing the word -man, which were popularly given to soldiers. It’s also possible that it’s based on one of the following first names: Herman, Mangus or Emanuel.
Currently: Manninen is a very common surname in Jyväskylä and the wider area around it. In addition, it’s found in cities around the same longitude as Oulu, especially in the municipality Suomussalmi (2010).
Place names: There are 38 locations named Manninen in Finland. It’s the name of two villages: one in Ypäjä and one near Kouvola.

Koivisto

Koivisto is the 41st most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We have records of the name Koivisto starting from the 1460s. For this name, there has been to some extent a tendency to swap a Swedish-sounding surname with the word “björk” to Koivisto. This name was also adopted to some extent at the beginning of the 1900s, but it doesn’t have the typical -nen or -la/lä suffix so it was less popular.
Origin: The word koivisto refers to an area where birch trees grow. It’s made up of the noun koivu “birch tree” with the suffix -sto, which expresses there’s a multitude of the base word. It’s very likely that many of the people with this surname in the 1500s lived in or near a birch tree forest.
Currently: Koivisto is most popular in Western Finland, especially in Tampere, Pori, Seinäjoki and Vaasa. In addition, it makes it to the top 30 most common surnames in the areas around Kemi and Tornio in North-West Finland (2010).
Place names: There are 849 places named Koivisto in Finland. The name appears all over Finland, likely in locations with an abundance of birch trees. Several cities have a neighborhood named Koivisto.

Other related surnames with kallio and their placement as of 25.4.2022:

Koivula: 174th most common surname
Koivinen: 191th most common surname
Koivuniemi (“birch peninsula”): 419th most common surname
Koivu: 513 most common surname
Koivumäki (“birch hill”): 533rd most common surname

Hakala

Hakala is the 42nd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: We already have records of the name Hakala from the 1500s. However, I’ve been able to mostly find information about Haka rather than Hakala. It’s likely that Hakala gained most of its popularity at the beginning of the 1900s, when surnames ending in -la/lä became fashionable. The surname has also been adopted by people with a Swedish-sounding surname starting with Hag- such as Haglund.
Origin: The surname Hakala is based on the noun haka, which is pasture with a fence around it.
Currently: Hakala is a Western Finnish surname. The largest concentrations of this name can be found in the cities of Tampere, Pori, Vaasa and Seinäjoki (2010).
Place names: In Hyvinkää and Ikaalinen, there is a neighborhood named Hakala. As most names ending in -la/lä, Hakala is very common as the name of a house or location: there are a total of 1129 places named Hakala in Finland.

Anttila

Anttila is the 43rd most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Anttila is an old surname and has been used since the 1500s in both Eastern and Western Finland.
Origin: Anttila is based on the first name Antti. Both Antti and Andreas were popular names due to the Christianity: Andreas was one of the apostles. In the majority of the case, it’s likely that the name Anttila was used to refer to the house of a person named Antti; either the current inhabitant or a forefather. In this way, it’s similar to Heikkilä (based on the man’s name Heikki).
Currently: Anttila is currently common in Western Finland, especially in the cities of Oulu (up the North-West coast) and Kouvola (in the South-East) (2010).
Place names: There are two villages called Anttila, one near Porvoo and the other near Kouvola. In addition, Anttila is used very commonly as the name of a house or estate in about 930 locations all over Finland.

Laaksonen / Laakso

Laaksonen is the 44th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: I couldn’t find out much for Laaksonen, apart from a mention that it’s probably been an old name, which has then gained popularity in the beginning of the 1900s.
Origin: The word laakso means “valley”. The suffix -nen was especially popular at the beginning of the 900s when the romantic nationalism movement started spreading and people took on surnames that were related to nature.
Currently: Laaksonen is most popular in the very South-West corner of Finland, especially in the cities Turku, Salo, Lahti and Pori.
Place names: Laaksonen is not popular as a place name, which is part of a wider tendency where the suffix -la/lä is used to refer to places rather than the suffix -nen.

Laakso is the 48th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: I have no information on how long this name has been used. However, Laakso was an especially popular surname for people changing their Swedish-sounding name to a more Finnish alternative in the very beginning of the 1900s.
Origin: The word laakso means “valley”.
Currently: To a large extent, Laakso and Laaksonen are used in the same places. Laakso is most popular in the South to South-West of Finland, especially in Turku, Vantaa, Salo and Lahti.
Place names: There are 92 houses and estates in Finland named Laakso, which are situated both in Northern and Western Finland. Laakso is also the name of a neighborhood in Helsinki.

Hirvonen

Hirvonen is the 45th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: Hirvonen is considered a name of ancient Finnish origin. Originally it was especially common in Savonia and Karelia in the 1500s. However, there are records of it also popping up randomly in other places such as southwestern Finland starting from the 1600s.
Origin: Hirvonen is most likely based on the noun hirvi “moose, elk”.
Currently: These days as well, the surname Hirvonen is most common in the areas of Savonia and Karelia, with a large concentration in the city Jyväskylä. In the small municipality of Rääkkylä in North Karelia, 6% of the people living there have Hirvonen as their surname (2010).
Place names: Hirvonen is not common as a place name, which is part of a wider tendency where the suffix -la/lä is used to refer to places rather than the suffix -nen.

Räsänen

Räsänen is the 46th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: This old surname has been commonly used in Savonia and Karelia in the East of Finland since the 1500s, especially during the center of the century.
Origin: No clear etymological link has been proven. It’s been theorized that Räsänen would be related to the surname Raasakka. Raasakka is likely based on the Germanic first name Razico/ Razice.
Currently: Räsänen is most common in the eastern central regions of Finland, especially in Kainuu and the Eastern regions of North Ostrobothnia. It’s most common in the larger cities Kuopio and Joensuu. The largest concentrations of this surname are in the municipalities of Kaavi (9 % of the residents) and Tuusniemi (7 % of the residents).
Place names: Räsänen is not common as a place name, which is part of a wider tendency where the suffix -la/lä is used to refer to places rather than the suffix -nen.

Toivonen

Toivonen is the 49th most common Finnish surname.

Earliest records: The earliest mentions of a Toivonen-like surname date back to the years 1445 (Thoywtesson), 1473 (Tovonen) and 1475 (Toiwonen). Records from the 1500s contain Toivonen regularly. Originally, Toivonen was common in East-Finland, including in the areas Finland had to hand over to the USSR in 1940, such as in the city Vyborg, which currently belongs to Russia.
Origin: Despite the beautiful word toivo “hope” in this word, it’s more likely that Toivonen is based on the man’s name Toiva.
Currently: This surname is not common anymore in East-Finland. Currently, it’s most common in South-West Finland, with the largest concentrations in Turku, Salo and Hämeenlinna (2010). It’s interesting to look at names similar to Toivonen and their distribution areas. The surnames Toivo, Toivola, Toivonen, Toivio and Toiva are now considered Western-Finnish, while the surnames Toivainen, Toivanen and Toiviainen are more clearly Eastern-Finnish.
Place names: Toivonen is the place name of 29 places in Finland, most of them located in Central-West Finland.

7. Most common foreign-origin surnames in Finland

This list is a simple copy-paste from Sukunimi-info on October 1st 2022. I’m only including it as a little tidbit of interesting information. Clicking the link of each name will lead you to Sukunimi-info’s article about said name.

Nguyen (2 910 ulkomaalaista)
Wang (1 850)
Johansson (1 680)
Zhang (1 610)
Andersson (1 520)
Li (1 520)
Karlsson (1 340)
Liu (1 290)
Chen (1 170)
Eriksson (1 040)
Tran (1 010)
Ali (950)
Ivanov (930)
Ahmed (900)
Lee (810)
Kim (790)
Nilsson (770)
Yang (740)
Singh (680)
Pham (680)

8. Resources

My two main sources for this article have been the website Sukunimi-info and the book Sukunimet by Pirjo Mikkonen and Sirkka Paikkala. For the latter, I’ve used the version published in 1992 by Otava. This book was most useful as a tool to find out more about the history, origin and connection of each name to other names.

I have included some information from other sources as well, which you can also check out below: