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Holappa is a Finnish surname. The name Holappa has its origin in a Russian word holop which means “slave” or “soul” (see “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol). The first Holappas came from behind the Russian border around the 1500 to Swedish side, to the area that would later become Finland. Finland was a part of Sweden that time.
Due to the expansion policy of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa and his successors immigrants gradually settled eastern and northern parts of Finland (Savo and Pohjanmaa, Savonia and Ostrobothnia). The ancestors of Holappa family were among these settlers. Nowadays around 155 000 people descenting from the first Holappas are living in Finland. The biggest population is in Puolanka parish and its neighbours Pudasjärvi, Utajärvi, Ylikiiminki and Muhos.