Few things are as quintessentially Finnish as last names. In a country with a population of just over five million people, there are over seven thousand different last names in use. That works out to an average of just over one last name per person!

Interestingly, Finnish last names often have meaning attached to them. For example, the name "Niemi" (which is quite common) means "peninsula". Other names may refer to features of the landscape, like "Mäki" (hill) or "Joki" (river). Some names are even occupational, like "Virtanen" (tailor).

Of course, not all Finnish last names have such deep roots. In fact, many Finns have surnames that were only adopted relatively recently. This is because up until the early 20th century, most Finns didn't have any sort of surname at all! It wasn't until the late 19th century that patronymics (names derived from one's father's name) became widespread in Finland. Even then, it wasn't until the 20th century that surnames became mandatory by law.

So where do Finnish last names come from? Well, there's a long and complicated history behind them. If you're interested in learning more, we suggest you to go through the following list.

Aalto Aaltonen Aarnio Ahlgren Ahlroos Ahlroth Ahokas Ahola Ahonen Ahti Ahtiainen Ahtola
Ahvenainen Aikio Airaksinen Akkila Akkola Alanen Alanko Alatalo Angeria Annala Antikainen Antila Anttila Anttonen Arola Aronen Arponen Arvola Arvonen Asikainen Asplund Auramo Autere Autero Autio Auvinen Avonius Backlund Bjorklund Castren Eerikainen Eerola Ekholm Elomaa Eloranta Enqvist
Erola Eronen Eskelinen Eskola Fagerholm Forss Gronlund Gronroos Haakana Haapala Haapalainen Haapanen Haapaniemi Haapasaari Haapasalo Haaranen Haatainen Haataja Haavisto Haikonen Hakanen Hakkarainen Hakola Hakula Hakuli Halinen Hallikainen Halme Halminen Halonen Halttunen Hamalainen Hannikainen Happonen Hatakka Haukka Hautala Haverinen Havukainen Heikinheimo Heikkinen Heikkonen Heikura Heimonen Heininen Heino Heinola Heinonen
Heiska Heiskanen Helenius Hellman Helminen Hemminki Henttonen Herranen Hietala Hietanen Hietaniemi Hiltunen Himanen Hinkkanen Hintikka Hirvi Hirvonen Hoffren Hoikkala Hokkanen Holappa Holma Holmstrom Holopainen Honkala Honkanen Honkaniemi Honkonen Hovi Huhta Huhtala Huhtanen Hujanen Hukkanen Hulkko Hulkkonen Huotari Huovila Huovinen Hurme Hurskainen Huusko Huuskonen Hynninen Hynynen Hypponen Hytti Hyttinen Hyytiainen Ihalainen Iivanainen Iivonen Ikonen Ilkka Ilmonen Ilola Ilvonen Immonen Inkeroinen Inkinen Isoaho Isotalo Itkonen Jaakola Jaatinen Jalava Jalkanen Jalonen Janhunen Jantunen Jarva Jarvela Jauhiainen Jeskanen Joensuu Jokinen Jokisalo Julkunen Junnila Junttila Jurvanen Jussila Jutila Juuti
Juutilainen Juutinen Juvonen Kaakinen Kaartinen Kaasalainen Kaasinen Kaikkonen Kainulainen Kaipainen Kaipio Kajander Kajava Kakko Kallio Kallioinen Kalliokoski Kallioniemi Kallonen Kananen

Last Names by Countries

Afghans Algerian Albanian Angolan Argentines Australian Austrian Azerbaijani Bangladeshi Belarusian Belgian Benin Bolivian Bosniak Brazilian British Bulgarian Burkinab Cambodian Cameroonian Canadian Chilean Chinese Colombian Croatian Czech Congolese Danish Dominican Republic Ecuadorian Egyptian Ethiopian Finn French Georgian German Ghanaian Greek Guatemalan Hungarian Indian Indonesian Iranian Iraqi Irish Israeli Italian Ivorian Japanese Kazakh Kenyan Latvian Lebanese Lithuanian Macedonian Malaysian Mexican Moroccan Mozambican Nepali Netherland Nigerian Norwegian Pakistani Peruvian Filipino Polish Portugese Romanian Russian Saudi Arabian Serbian Slovak Slovenes South African Spanish Sri Lankan Swedish Swiss Syrian Tanzanian Tunisian Turkish Ugandan Ukrainian US-American Uzbek Venezuelan Vietnamese Zambian Zimbabwean