My question concerns the origin of the name Lofgren – is it a farm name?

I see the name first appear in my lineage with a Per (Pehr?) Nilsson Lofgren, son of Aldre Nils Svensson (and I believe “Aldre” is a title meaning Councilman). Per was born 17 Oct 1782, Nils was born about 1755, both of Annelov, Malmohus, Sweden.

Mark A. Pederson

Someone in Sweden who researched my family said that Lofgren was the name of a family and their estate that was prominent in Ostergötlan. My ancestor's mother worked on the estate as a seamstress. When the ancestor came to the US he was Persson or Pers son but took the name of Lofgren when he applied for citizenship.

My ancestor that emigrated to the U.S. was Anders Pehrsson Lofgren. His son was Pehr Andersson Lofgren, but changed his name to Peter Anderson Lofgreen. Peter’s children kept the name of Lofgreen. Any connection?

I’ve read that the branch of my family that stayed in Sweden kept the spelling of Lofgren.

My ancestor came to the U.S. in 1848 from Ultrika Ostergötlan. I know the names of his father and mother but not whether he had any brothers or sisters.

Hi Mark!
Greetings from Sweden!
If you are a descendant of Pehr Andersson Löfgren we are very distantly related. Pehr's mother was Sissa Bengtsdotter (Anders Pehrsson Löfgren's first wife) and she was a first cousin of my mother's father's father's mother, Olu Jeppsdotter. Olu's father Jeppe and Sissa's father Bengt were brothers.

Löfgren is a very common surname in Sweden. In Sweden before 1901 you could appropriate any surname you liked (except for noble names) and just tell the vicar to write it in the church record and it was your surname after that.
Löfgren is very typical of what we call "town-names", which is to say that someone who moved into a town and became perhaps a shoemaker or some other sort of craftsman or perhaps opened a small shop would take a name like that.
Löfgren literally means leaf (löf) branch (gren); other common names of this type is Ekberg (oak mountain), Lindgren (linden branch - one of Sweden 20 most common names), Björkkvist (birch twig) - well the list goes on almost for ever.

Why the name Löfgren was originally taken I have no idea since I haven't researched this line since it is only collateral to me. The simple rerason may of course be that they just took a fancy to it.

Best regards,
Ingela

Hi Ingela!

Thanks for your reply. I would be interested in more info on your side of the family. Could you email me off the list at highwayhavoc@yahoo.com?

Thanks!
Mark

Thank you Ingela! When I spent a lot of time in Sweden, I looked for Lofgreen's. Never found any, although they may be there. I did find that Lofgren seems to be as common in Sweden as the names Johnson, Nelson or Murphy are in the US.

My great great grandfather, (John Victor, Johan Wictor) is said to have wanted to "be an American" so he added the second "e" upon landing in the US. We seem a little unique as John Victor settled in the middle of the US, and most of the Lofgreen's in Nebraska, Kansas and MO are closely related.
Deb

Here is a quote from Carl-Erik Johansson's introduction to Anders Persson Löfgren's Autobiography: " Ander's father, Per, took the surname of Löfgren (löf or löv meaning leafy, and tren meaning branch or twig) when he bacame a village blacksmith, as was customary in Sweden."

I have researched village records and have found that there was a village blacksmith by the name of Löfgren before Anders' father became the blacksmith. From this I have to assume that Per took over the smithy and adopted the name Löfgren for continuity or, as Mr. Johansson says, Löfgren was a common name for blacksmiths to adopt.

Craig Lofgreen