An oeconym or oikonym is a traditional proper name of a house or other building. In the broad sense, the term may refer to the name of any inhabited place.
Other terminology
Sometimes the term ecodomonym is used to refer specifically to a building as an inhabited place. Compare also the term mansionym to designate a historical residence. Lay terms referring to the proper name of a house or other building include house name, farm name, or property name. Individuals may traditionally be referred to by their oeconyms rather than their surnames in Basque, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovene, and other languages. In these cultures the name of the property is more or less fixed and may refer to the people living there at any particular time, regardless of their actual surname or whether they recently purchased or moved to the property.
Explicit reference is made to oeconyms in Njáls saga, a 13th-century Icelandic work describing events between 960 and 1020. For example:
Þar eru þrír bæir er í Mörk heita allir. Á miðbænum bjó sá maður er Björn hét og var kallaður Björn hvíti. 'There are three farms in that district, all called Mörk. At the middle farm lived a man named Björn , known as Björn the White.'
In comparison to oeconyms in Norwegian and Faroese, in which the share of such names based on persons' names may be as low as 4 to 5%, in Icelandic approximately 32% of oeconyms are based on a personal name. Since 1953, oeconyms have been enshrined in law, and Icelandic farms are required to have registered names approved by a special committee. As travel by ship became more common in Iceland, the number of farms that had to be distinguished grew in number, and more complex compound names were created. In compound Icelandic oeconyms, the single most common second element is -staðir 'place', although topographical suffixes form the largest group of such elements.
Norwegian
Norwegian oeconyms are based on various factors associated with a property: local geography, land use, vegetation, animals, characteristic activity, folk religion, and owners' nicknames. Such names in Norway were collected in the 19-volume collection Norske Gaardnavne, published between 1897 and 1924. Typical suffixes on such names include -bø, -gaard/-gård, -heim/-um, -land, -rud/-rød, and -set. After the 1923 naming law was passed in Norway, many rural people adopted the names of the farms where they lived as surnames. These oeconyms were retained as surnames even after they moved away to towns or emigrated. It is estimated that 70% of surnames in Norway are based on oeconyms. The traditional oeconym system was not retained among Norwegian emigrants to the United States, even in communities where Norwegian continued to be spoken. It has been suggested that this was because of cultural differences, whereby American farms were perceived as income sources rather than traditional family seats.
Slovene
Slovene oeconyms are generally based on microtoponyms ; on names of animals, trees, and other plants associated with a property; on activities traditionally associated with a property ; or on the name or nickname of the original property owner. They may also refer to roles played in the community, the property's physical position or age, professions, personal qualities, or other noteworthy characteristics. The properties are generally referred to with a locative phrase, and the residents are referred to with the base noun, a derived noun, or a preceding denominal adjective. A well-known Slovene example is the writer Lovro Kuhar, better known by the pen namePrežihov Voranc. Slovene oeconyms often appear on gravestones as plural denominal adjectives, sometimes without the surname being given at all.
