Erik Larsson Kinnander - Kinnander surname

Until late 19th century, common people did not have surnames. They had their given names, possibly together with the patronym, e.g. Larsson = Lars' son. This is still the habit on Iceland.

Erik Larsson was a son of the farmer Lars Amundsson. Erik did though study to become a priest, and priests had surnames. Erik Larsson chose the name Kinnander, probably alluding to Kinda härad (= Kinda hundred), the county division including Tidersrum and Kisa parishes.

There's a hard to find 1957 book about the family:
"Släkten Kinnander från Kinda härad"

http://libris.kb.se/bib/10177068

/Tony

It's 3 thing inclusive, Kinda härad, Kisa, Bollkind, often a priest took an invented priest-name from the place they were born.

Thank you all so much! I didn't know about priests having surnames. I knew about adding "son" to one's father's name. My grandfather (Elsa's husband) entered the U.S. as Knut Petterson but added "son" to his father's middle name to become Wilhelmson when he married. The story goes that, since both his parents were Pettersons, his reasoning was that there were just "too damned many Pettersons" already. ;-)