Korhonen

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Korhonen is a surname originating in Finland, where it is the first most common^[1] surname. It has no transparent meaning in modern Finnish, but is likely to have been derived from the mostly archaic word 'korho'. In some dialects, this word is used to mean a person of poor hearing or a numb-witted person. On the other hand, professor Alfred Salmela suggested in 1970 that the word 'korho' is a loan from the Baltics and has meant "old, village elder or chief". It still reported to carry a meaning of "proud, rich and boastful" in the southern parts of Finnish Lapland.

In addition, in languages closely related to Finnish such as Karelian, Estonian and Ludic the word 'korho' has the meaning 'raised or upright'. As an example of a word derived from this, the Karelian verb 'korhottaa' means "to be or move upright, to have one's head up high, to raise, to shake threateningly or brandish and to listen attentively". There are similar examples from Finnish dialects such as 'korhopää' from Pöytyä meaning roughly "one with a head of hair standing on end" and 'korholaiho' recorded from Ylistaro meaning "a crop growing upright". Also, in modern (both formal and colloquial) Finnish 'korottaa' means "to raise".

The name originates from Eastern Finland and is much older than its closest competitor for the title of the most common Finnish surname, Virtanen.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 90.8% all known bearers of the surname Korhonen were residents of Finland, 3.1% the United States, 2.8% of Sweden and 1.0% of Estonia.

In Finland, the frequency of the surname Korhonen was higher than national average (1:228) in the following regions:^[2]

• 1. Kainuu (1:38)
• 2. Northern Savonia (1:58)
• 3. North Karelia (1:109)
• 4. Southern Savonia (1:157)
• 5. Central Finland (1:196)

People

• Aku Korhonen (1892−1960), Finnish actor
• Erkki Korhonen (born 1956), Finnish director of opera, pianist
• Gunnar Korhonen (1918–2001), Finnish economist, government minister
• Janne Korhonen (taekwondo) (born 1970), Finnish taekwondoin
• Janne Korhonen (football) (born 1979), Finnish footballer
• Kari Korhonen (born 1973), Finnish cartoonist
• Keijo Korhonen (born 1934), Finnish politician (foreign minister) and professor
• Keijo Korhonen (sportsperson) (born 1956), Finnish ski jumper
• Markus Korhonen (born 1975), Finnish ice hockey player
• Martti Korhonen (born 1953), Finnish member of parliament
• Paavo Korhonen (born 1928), Finnish Nordic combined skier
• Pekka Korhonen (born 1955), Finnish political scientist and professor
• Pentti Korhonen (born 1951), Finnish motorcycle racer
• Sami Tapani Korhonen (born 1977), Finnish fashion designer
• Urpo Korhonen (1923–2009), Finnish cross-country skier

References