Finland Gazetteers
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In other languages: Online Gazetteers
- National Land Survey of Finland (Maanmittauslaitos): MapSite (Karttapaikka)
- FamilySearch Places
- People of All Nations, Vol 3B J A Hammerston, People of All Nations, Vol 3B, 1920
- Finland Official Standard Names approved by the US Board on Geographic Names Office of Geography Dept of the Interior, Finland Official Standard Names approved by the US Board on Geographic Names, 1962
- The Baltic and Caucasian States John Buchanan, The Baltic and Caucasian States, Houghton Mifflin Co, 1923
- National Archives of Finland Digital Archives
- Gazetteer of Finnish Exonyms Gazetteer of Finnish Exonyms, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 2004
- Finland Research outline Finland Research outline, FamilySearch International
- Places in the World, Gazetteer - Index of places of Finland
- GeoNames.org, Finland
- World Gazetteers at Archive.org
Print Only Gazetteers
- Finland parishes & Places : Village Index Finland Parishes & Places : Village Index, [1992]
- Finlands territoriala Församlingars ålder, utbildning och utgrening intill 1885 års utgång K G Leinberg, Finlands territoriala församlingars ålder, utbildning och utgrening intill 1885 års utgång, Helsingfors, Finland : Tidnings- & Tryckeri-aktiebolaget, 1886
- Suomen paikkakuntahakemisto P Pauninkoski, Suomen paikkakuntahakemisto, Kuopio, Finland : Kirjapaino OY Savo, 1949
- Suomenmaa : manntieteelis-taloudellinen ja historiallinen tietokirkja Suomenmaa : maantieteellis-taloudellinen ja historiallinen tietokirja, Helsinki, Finland : Tietosanakirja-Osakeyhtiö, 1923
- Svenska ortnamn i Finland med finska motsvarigheter Svenska folkpartiets ortnamnskommitté, Svenska ortnamn i Finland med finska motsvarigheter, Helsinki, Finland : [s.n.], 1963
- Suomenmaa : maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos H Tarmio, P Papunen K Korpela, Suomenmaa : maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos, Porvoo, Finland : WS, 1967-1978
- Parish and county listing with maps, Finland M Choquette, L Choquette, M Russell, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Parish and county listing with maps, Finland, Salt Lake City, Utah : Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, c1991
- Posti- ja lennätinlaitoksen osoitehakemisto = Post- och telegrafverkets adressförteckning Postal Guide for Finland, Posti- ja lennätinlaitoksen osoitehakemisto = Post- och telegrafverkets adressförteckning, Helsinki, Finland : [Posti- ja lennätinhallitus], 1968
- Posti- ja sähkösanomaosoitteiden hakemisto O Räsänen, Posti- ja sähkösanomaosoitteiden hakemisto, [Helsinki, inland : Posti- ja lennätinhallitus], 1930
About Finland Gazetteers
Many localities/places in Finland had a Finnish name and a corresponding Swedish name (which were not always a direct translation). It can be helpful to know the place name in both languages, as the locality may be writen as either name in the documents.
The FamilySearch Catalog is based on the Finnish counties [lääni/län] as of 1945, but it also includes the ceded county of Viipuri. In addition, the International Genealogical Index includes the two counties founded in 1960 (see Finland Maps for more information). In 1998 the counties were again redrawn.
Early Finnish records, such as the Old and New Collection of Accounts and military records, were organized by the old Finnish provinces [maakunta/ landskap], which did not coincide with the counties with the same names (see Finland Maps for more information). The catalog lists these records under all pertaining counties.
Regardless of the names a place may have had at various times, all Finnish places are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog as they appear in the following sources:
- Suomenmaa: maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos (Finland: A Geographical- Social Dictionary and Reference Work). 7 vols. Porvoo: WS, 1967–78. (FHL book 948.97 E2s; film 1224704, items 2–9)
- Suomenmaa: maantieteellis-taloudellinen ja historiallinen tietokirja (Finland: A Geographical-Economical and Historical Dictionary). Vol. 5. Helsinki: Tietosanakirja-Osakeyhtiö, 1923. (FHL book 948.975 E2s) The library has only this volume, which describes Viipuri County, of the earlier edition of Suomenmaa.
Why Use Gazetteers
A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.
There are many places within a country with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.
Gazetteer Contents
Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:
- Different religious denominations
- Schools, colleges, and universities
- Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
- The population size.
- Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
- Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
- Longitude and latitude.
- Distances and direction from other from cities.
- Schools, colleges, and universities.
- Denominations and number of churches.
- Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)