Scandinavian Baby Names

Naming TRADITIONS in Scandinavia vary from region to region, but they all bear a common cultural heritage starting with the emigration of Germanic barbarians from western Asia in the early Middle Ages. Religion at this time was pagan and polytheistic, taking a gloomy view of the world and man's role in it. This helped to create a fierce race of people. They lived in a male-dominated society which took great pleasure in excess. They had an eager sense of adventure, which found them discovering new places overseas and raiding and settling neighboring lands. Siring a large number of children was seen as a symbol of one's virility and unfortunately went hand in hand with the commonly practiced barbaric act of infanticide. By the beginning of the early Middle Ages, the people had divided into many different groups, such as the Scandinavians, Goths, Vandals, and Dutch. Their language changed as well, dividing into the modern languages of Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. Dutch, the language of the Netherlands, is rooted in West Germanic, the branch that also produced the English and German languages. As Christianity supplanted the old religion, many of the old gods were forgotten. Nevertheless, it is becoming as popular to give children names from Norse mythology or those with a strong Nordic flavor as it is to give them saints' names. Before the nineteenth century, people in Denmark were only known by one name. In 1828 the government directed people to give their children a family name as well as a Christian name at baptism. Usually the chosen name was the father's name with either -sen (son of) or -clatter (daughter of) added. A law passed in the 1860s made the family name hereditary. In 1904 the government reduced the charges for registering names in order to encourage people to adopt family names other than the -sen or -clatter patronymics. In Holland the Dutch long used generational-changing patronymics. The names became permanent and hereditary for the upper and middle classes in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Not until the seventeenth century did the names become fixed for the lower-middle and lower classes. The system of naming children in Iceland is an old one sanctioned by law. Babies are given a first name followed by the father's last name in the genitive case with an ending of-son (son of) or -dottir (daughter of). Women do not adopt their husband's surname upon marriage, but the title Fru is used to indicate marital status. Hereditary family names began in urban Norway in the sixteenth century, but it wasn't until late in the nineteenth century that permanent family names became fixed throughout Norway. People who lived in the country had three names: a first name, a patronymic, and a "farm" name. The given names were handed down in a fixed order. The first-born son was given the name of the paternal grandfather; the first-born daughter was named for her paternal grandmother. The second son was given the maternal grandfather's name, and the second daughter was given the name of the maternal grandmother. Subsequent children were named for other family members. The Swedish naming system consisted of a given name and the father's given name to which -son (son of) or -doner (daughter of) was added. In 1901 the Swedish government passed a law fixing the family names into hereditary names instead of allowing them to change with each generation. Many Scandinavian personal names have their roots in the old Germanic language. Most of these names are compound names composed of two separate elements. As the language died out, the names lost their meanings. Opposing name elements were used to create new names with contradictory meanings or meanings that made no sense. The female Friedelinde, which is composed of the elements frid (peace) and lind (weak, soft, tender), is an example. Dead languages of the Old West Norse and Old East Norse also form the basis of many of the names. Because of the region's shared history, similar societies, and language roots, many personal names are common throughout Scandinavia and the Netherlands.