Paus

Paus (alternate spellings: Pauss and de Paus) is an old civil servant and merchant family of Norway tracable back to the late 15th century and a man named Oluf, claiming to belong to a medieval noble family named Paus or Paue, the exact circumstances have not been established. The oldest documented member of this family was canon at the St. Mary's Church in Oslo, Hans Olufsen Paus (1500-70) who was paternal grandfather to two clergymen born in the late 16th century, who became the patriarchs to two lineages of the family. They were Peder Povelssøn Paus (b. 1587), who became provost in Øvre Telemark, og Hans Povelssøn Paus (b. 1590) who became parish priest in Fredrikstad. His son Christen Hanssøn Paus was mayor in Bergen and married to Elisabeth Munthe, the daughter of bishop Ludvig Munthe. The origin of the Paus name is unclear and several theories have been asserted. The researcher Ivar Utne asserts that the name is cognate with the word "pave", the Norwegian word for pope (Latin for "father", also "paus" in Dutch means "pope"), being used as a nickname [no icon [http://www.hf.uib.no/i/Nordisk/navn/Etternavnsforkl05.htm] ] . Another explanation has been posited by the genealogist S. H. Finne-Grønn that it is a patronymic based on the first name Paul

The family has flourished in Norway, but is also present in Sweden where parts of it has intermarried the Russian immigrant family Tolstoy. In Norway the family has intermarried the prominent families Wedel-Jarlsberg, Løvenskiold and von Munthe af Morgenstierne. Until the late 19th century members of the family were predominantly civil servants and merchants in Telemark county and the city Drammen. A Catholic member of the family, Christopher de Paus, was ennobled by the Pope and made a Roman Count.

Other members have been judges, officers, ambassadors, doctors, members of parliament, bankers, ship-owners, theologians and artists.

Famous family members include:

*Christian Cornelius Paus (1800–1879), lawyer and member of parliament, uncle of Henrik Ibsen
*Count Christopher de Paus (1862–1943), Chamberlain, art collector and socialite
*Nikolai Nissen Paus (1877-1956), surgeon and President of the Norwegian Red Cross
*Ole Otto Paus (1910–2003), General
*Bernhard Paus (1910–1999), surgeon and Grand Master of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons
*Thorleif Lintrup Paus (1912–2006), diplomat
*Brita Collett Paus (1917–1998), founder of the catholic charity Fransiskushjelpen.
*Lucie Paus Falck (1938–), Labour politician
*Ole Paus (1947–), singer

Famous descendants of the Paus family include playwright Henrik Ibsen, whose maternal grandmother was a Paus and whose father also was raised by a member of the Paus family.

References

ources

"All literature is Norwegian or Swedish."
* Gerber, Tage von (1924): «de Paus», in: "Sveriges ointroducerade adels kalender 1925", Malmö: Sveriges Ointroducerade Adels Förening
* Trætteberg, Hallvard (1933): "Norske By- og Adelsvåben"
* Krag, Hans (1955): "Norsk heraldisk mønstring 1699-1730", vol. I.
* Cappelen, Hans A. K. T. (1969): "Norske slektsvåpen"
* Finne-Grønn, S. H. (1910): «Ætten Paus' stamfædre ved aar 1600», in "Norsk tidsskrift for genealogi, personalhistorie, biografi og literærhistorie", vol. I, p. 68-80.
* Finne-Grønn, S. H. (1943): "Slekten Paus : dens oprindelse og 4 første generasjoner"
* Qvisling, Jon Lauritz (1893): "Familierne Paus og Post i Telemarken : nogle Optegnelser"
* Qvisling, Jon Lauritz (1893): "Optegnelser om Provsterne i øvre Telemarken de tre første Aarhundreder efter Reformationen 1537-1837"

ee also

*Paus is also the name of a Swedish band including Peter Svensson from The Cardigans and Joakim Berg from Kent.