I have been keeping a record of the various Kangas surnames that I have encountered over the years. Here's the list I've accumulated so far:
My ancestors' original surname was "Kangaskokko".
When you know what your original ancestral Kangas surname is, it
can be an indicator of genetic relationship with other Kangas people.
For example, two Kangas people who share the same ancestral surname are
more likely to be genetically related via a link in the past. There
is no guarantee of this, however, as the Finnish "farm naming" convention
was commonly practiced long ago in Finland (see Finnish Surnaming Conventions
below).
cloth or fabric
meadow
moor or heath or tundra
swamp
muskeg (a type of tundra with water/mud just under the vegetation)
healthy forest
One debate among many people with the surname Kangas is over
which of these old or new WORD meanings is the correct one for our NAME.
There is a legend in my family regarding the Kangas surname meant to explain the meaning and history of the name. A legend is, of course, a story passed along which may or may not be true...some believe strongly in the legend as truth, others discount it as interesting fiction. Somehow, legends tend to persist, usally because they're somehow appealing, compelling, or otherwise interesting...and because there exists what believers consider supporting evidence. Anyway, my Kangas family legend goes something like this...
Sometime during the time when Finland was governed as a territory of Sweden (approx. 1200 - 1800), the King of Sweden sent some number of men to Finland to take care of the valuable forests. Each of these Swedish men were assigned a different forest area in Finland to manage, and they were all given the surname "Kangas". These forest care-takers took on a surname prefix or suffix which indicated which forest they were responsible for in order to better differentiate their reports back to the Swedish government. Typically, these men and their descendants married into the local Finnish population.Although I'm a little of a romantic, and consider myself "open-minded" (willing to objectively consider new ideas while suppressing any bias), I also tend to seek confirmation of important claims, such as this Kangas name legend. I don't know that I'll ever discover "proof" for confirmation or denial of this legend, but somehow it's fun trying. Perhaps you'll find the search for your Kangas surname history and meaning as entertaining and fun as I have.
PATRONYMIC names were very common, and were typically used as surnames. They consist of the first name of the father followed by the word for "son" ("poika" in Finnish) or "daughter" ("tytär" in Finnish). For example, a boy given the (first) name "Erik" and born to his father "Matt" would be known to the community as "Erik Mattinpoika" (Erik, Matt's son); later, when Eric grows up, gets married, and has a son who he gives the first name "Toivo", that son would be known to the community as "Toivo Erikinpoika". As you can imagine, this can make genealogical research difficult when tracing your family tree via such heavy use of patronymic names.
FARM or HOUSE names were also often used. A person born on/in a particular farm or house, or moving to it within the first week or so of birth, would take on the name of that farm or house as their surname. For example, a child "Erik" born on the "Kangas" farm would carry the "Erik Kangas" name...unless his parents moved right away to the "Kujala" farm, in which case the child's name would change to "Erik Kujala", despite the fact that his parents' names remained the same; then if Erik Kujala married and moved to the "Parkkila" farm, his children would be known in the community with the "Parkkila" surname. Again, this can make genealogical research difficult when tracing your family tree because of the changes.
Usually, the eldest son would inherit a family farm or city house. But Finnish families tended to be quite large in the "old days", with 10-20 sons and daughters commonly born to a couple during their marriage (Finns typically married only once during their lifetime). So, sub-divisions of the family farm would often occur, and the smaller tract(s) might sometimes take on either a new name or a surname suffix which uniquely denoted it from the other sub-divisions. For example, if a stream ("puro" in Finnish") ran through the tract, it might be named "Kangaspuro"; likewise, the lower ("ala" in Finnish) sub-division might be known as "Alakangas" as compared to the big ("iso" in Finnish) sub-division "Isokangas".
Consistent surnames in Finnish families from one generationn to the next in the "old days" was usually indicative that either (1) the family owned their own farm and/or house for successive generations (property owners) and didn't move, or (2) the family was descended from clergy, academics, military, expert craftsman, or nobility, who were the first to begin using permanent surnames (often Latin or Greek derivative names).
The "Kangas" name is unusual, in that it is not a patronymic name and is frequently consistent from one generation to the next in its recording in records despite family relocations and subdivisions of any associated Kangas farms.
My original ancestral surname was "Kangaskokko". "Kokko" has several old and new meanings as a WORD in Finnish, including "whole" (implies "the whole Kangas farm"), "eagle" ("kokko" is an older form of "kotka") and "bonfire". Another legend in my family goes like this...
The Kangaskokko family was responsible for organizing and/or building the bonfire used in the traditional annual summer solstice celebration known as "Juhannus".Again, I can't confirm or deny this legend.
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