Ollikainen

Ollikainen is a Finnish surname that is most commonly found in Finland, particularly in the southern regions of the country. The name is derived from the Finnish word olli, which historically refers to a type of spindle or a small stool, and the suffix –kainen, which is often used to form family names. As with many Finnish surnames, Ollikainen originally served as a way to identify members of a particular household or clan.

The distribution of the surname is concentrated in the Uusimaa and Kanta-Häme regions, where it appears in telephone directories and population registers more frequently than in other parts of Finland. Over the past century, a small number of bearers of the name have emigrated to North America, with concentrations in the United States and Canada, especially within communities that settled in the Midwest.

Notable individuals with the surname include Juhani Ollikainen, a former professional ice hockey player who played in the Finnish Liiga during the 1980s, and Veikko Ollikainen, a botanist known for his research on alpine flora in the 1960s and 1970s. In the arts, artist Aino Ollikainen gained recognition for her abstract watercolor works in the 1990s.

The surname has remained relatively uncommon, but it continues to be recognized among Finnish-speaking populations. Genealogical research into the Ollikainen name often involves exploring church records, census data, and municipal archives in the provinces where the name is most prevalent.