Fennoman

Fennomans were a loose political group in Finland propagating the Finnish language during the language strife. Their opposition, the svekomans tried to defend the status of Swedish, but eventually had to give in.

Practically all of the first generation of fennomans were originally Swedish-speaking. They learned Finnish, and made a point of using it both in the society and at home, giving their children what they missed themselves: the Finnish mother tongue. Many fennomans also finnicized their family names.

The fennoman motto was coined by Adolf Ivar Arvidsson: "We are not Swedish, we will not become Russian, so let us be Finnish"

List of prominent fennomans

• Fredrik Cygnaeus
• Georg Zacharias Yrjö-Koskinen
• Elias Lönnrot
• Johan Ludvig Runeberg
• Johan Vilhelm Snellman
• Zacharius Topelius

See also: History of Finland