Personnamn

Personnamn is the Swedish term for the personal name by which a person is identified. It typically comprises a given name (förnamn) and a family name (efternamn), and may also include middle names, patronymics, or titles in formal contexts. As a general concept, a personnamn is used in daily life, official records, and social interaction to distinguish one individual from another.

The structure and order of a personnamn vary across cultures. In many Western traditions, the given name appears first and the family name last. In several East Asian cultures, the family name is written before the given name. Some societies use patronymics or matronymics instead of inherited family names, while others employ compound or double-barreled surnames. Names may be modified or added through marriage, adoption, or personal choice, and some cultures place different emphasis on given names and surnames in everyday use.

Legal and administrative aspects around personnamn differ by jurisdiction. Many countries regulate what names may be used for official records and may require formal procedures for name changes. In multilingual contexts, transliteration and spelling variations can affect how a personnamn is recorded and processed in databases, passports, and civil registries.

In onomastics, the study of personal names examines their origins, frequency, distribution, and social significance. The term personnamn thus covers the full range of how people are named, how names function in society, and how naming practices reflect cultural and historical contexts.