Many Callenius’ in Scandinavia

The name Callenius appears in various spellings in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. One of my former Finnish colleagues, Tanu Niemi, once told me surprisingly that Callenius is a fairly common name in Finland. Well, the name doesn’t appear very often in telephone books there either.

However, the spelling varies more in the Nordic countries. Calenius, Källenius, and similar names also appear there. Incidentally, Ola Källenius, who is of Swedish descent, has been a member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG since 2015 (see photo, source: www.daimler.com).

To what extent, and whether, these are related to their German namesakes remains completely unknown. While researching the archives of www.ancestry.com and others, I came across several Callenius members who also date back to the mid-18th century. For example:

Finland:
Gabriel Callenius: oo 1767 with Kirstin Johansdr, a son is baptized in Karjalohja Uusimaa
Maria Callenius: oo before 1755 with Thom Yleen, children are born in Lammi
Anna Callenius: oo before 1819 with Johan Puuka, children are baptized in Raisala Vipuri
Carl Callenius: lived in Liperi, Kuopio in 1841
Frans Callenius: lived in Kymi in 1890

Sweden:
Catharina Cecilia Callenius: oo before 1779 with Lars Högberg, children are baptized in Stockholm
Joan Israel Christophersson Callenius: born June 14, 1765 in Stockholm
Carl Georg Callenius: born in 1857 in Adolf Fredrik’s Församling

The However, the naming laws and naming rules in Sweden before 1900, for example, were extremely – let’s say – unusual compared to Germany and are very liberal compared to the naming laws in Germany.