Korhonen

Korhonen is a surname originating in Finland, where it is the most common[1] surname. The most common surname in Finland was Virtanen before 2009, when the number of people with the surname Korhonen exceeded the number of people with the surname Virtanen for the first time.[2][3]

Look up Korhonen in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word 'korho' is not used in modern standard Finnish, but in languages closely related to Finnish, such as Estonian and Ludic, it means "elevated". As an example of a verb derived from 'korho', in Karelian 'korhottaa' means "to be or move upright", "to have one's head up high", "to raise", "to shake threateningly", "to brandish", and "to listen attentively".[4]

In modern Finnish 'korottaa' means "to raise" and 'kohottaa' means "to elevate", "to uplift", "to hold up", and "to leaven". 'Kohottaa' also means "to toast" when combined into 'kohottaa malja' ("to raise a goblet or a cup").

'Korho' has meant "proud", "rich", and "boastful" in the southern parts of Finnish Lapland, and in Satakunta and Pirkanmaa it has meant "large man". In some dialects 'korho' has meant "hearing-impaired", and it seems that this meaning was most likely derived from the "to listen attentively"-meaning of the verb 'korhottaa'. In some places 'korho' has meant "slightly stupid", "inattentive", and "clumsy": it appears likely that these meanings were derived from the "hearing-impaired"-meaning.[4]

Some dialectal nouns derived from 'korho' have been documented in Finland, such as 'korhopää' from Pöytyä meaning roughly "one with a head of upright hair" and 'korholaiho' from Ylistaro meaning "a crop of cereal growing upright".[4]

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