Picture - Larry Lyseng

The Hong Farms are located in Oier in Gudbrandsdal, near the village of Tretten, on the river Lågen. It is said that the village was named Tretten because only thirteen people there survived the Black Death. The name Hong has gone through many changes. A 1902 book of Norwegian Farm Names by Rygh and Kjaer states that HONG is not the correct spelling of this old name as the last letter of the original name was "n." Old legal documents show the following spellings:

1556 - Houg
1578 - Honing & Honng
1594 - Hung
1604 - Houg
1723 - Hong

Family tradition maintains that the name was originally Hogn in Old Norse, and it meant "land the lies high." It is said that the Danes changed the spelling to match the name of the town Hong on the west coast of Denmark.

Anna Hong - Our Norwegian Ancestors. P. 181