konfirmationslängder

Konfirmationslängder are historical church records from Sweden that list individuals who were confirmed in a given parish in a particular year. They function as official registers maintained by parish clergy to document who took part in the Lutheran confirmation rite and to record basic identifying details for the confirmands.

Content and structure vary by parish and period. A konfirmationslängd typically includes the confirmand’s name and, in many cases, birth year or date, residence, and parents’ names (often including the mother’s maiden name). Some entries note the confirmation date, examination results, or later remarks such as moves or deaths. The exact fields and layout were not standardized and reflect local bookkeeping practices.

Historical context and usage: These lists developed with the parish system and the husförhör (household examination) tradition, and they are especially valuable for genealogists. Konfirmationslängder help locate individuals within a household and parish at a known time, corroborate family relationships, and support movement across parishes. They are usually used together with kyrkobokföring (parish registers) and husförhörslängder to build a broader family history.

Preservation and access: Konfirmationslängder were produced from the early modern period into the 19th century and are preserved in parish archives and national repositories. In recent decades they have been digitized and made accessible through archives and genealogy services, facilitating search by name, year, and parish.

See also: husförhörslängder, kyrkobokföring.