Salmi Family History

Finnish: ornamental name from salmi ‘strait’ adopted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries chiefly in southwestern Finland by Finns without surnames or to replace Swedish surnames (compare Laine).

Also a habitational name from farms so named with reference to their location found mainly in Ostrobothnia and northern Finland.

In North America it is sometimes a shortened form of the cognate surname Salminen.