Födointag

Födointag is a term that appears in some Swedish historical and archival records to denote the date of birth. It is not a standard contemporary term; in modern Swedish, födelsedatum is the common label for a person’s birth date. Födointag is mainly found in older registries, parish catalogues, and data exports where field labels are more terse or varied.

The etymology of the word combines föd- (born) with intag (entry or record), implying the moment when birth information was entered into a registry or catalogue. In practice, födointag refers to the actual birth date rather than related dates such as baptism, which are sometimes documented separately as dopdatum. When present in datasets, the value is typically formatted as a date in a standard calendar notation.

Usage and interpretation can vary by archive, so users should exercise caution. Because födointag is not universally recognized, it may cause confusion for researchers relying on standardized data models. For data interchange and clarity, it is advisable to map födointag to födelsedatum in databases and to document the meaning within the data schema. Some modern digitization projects standardize this field to reduce ambiguity, while preserving the original label for archival fidelity.

See also: födelsedatum, dopdatum, genealogical databases, civil registry.