Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Norwegian : habitational name from either of two farmsteads in southwestern Norway, named Malmheimr in Old Norse, from malmr ‘sand or gravel plain’ + heimr ‘homestead’, ‘farmstead’. Farmsteads such as these, established in Viking times, have since been broken up into many smaller farms; hence the proliferation of surnames based on what were originally very few named locations.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe