Swedish names

[Steven Lindquist]

I have a question about Swedish names.  I am getting confused about the name Lindqvist and Nilsson.  Or Hallqvist and Jönsson?  I have been researching my family in the Swedish Parish records and it seems like the name switches or some members of the family adopted the Lindqvist last name and some didn't.  How common is it for the names to chanage and is there a way to search with both names in mind?  I am new to researching but have gathered alot of information about my family history.  Any suggestions would be helpful
 
 
Thanks

[Ingela Martenius]

I've just explained all about Swedish names on the Ancestry message board:
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.scan-balt.sweden.general/25797.1.1/mb.ashx
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.scan-balt.sweden.general/25797.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx
 
The short answer:
Swedes changed - and still change - surnames any which way they want. In a family of four brothers you can easily have four (or more) different surnames. Doing Swedish research we tend to focus on first names, patronymics (-son/-dotter-names) and date/place of birth to establish identity; surnames are more of a nice bit of circumstantial evidence which has to be evaluated.
 
Ingela