As long as the old belief continued the cases of renamings of the child's great grandparent would undoubtedly dominate, but as soon as it ceased to be believed that If one or more of the grandparents were dead the old belief would practically decree it and filial love would perpetuate the practice after the belief no longer existed in its old form. Undoubtedly, however, it was a grandparent in a relatively large number of cases. Originally the naming of the first two sons must have been very varied it could have been after the father only in a small proportion of cases, or after an uncle in perhaps a somewhat larger proportion of cases or again the child might be named after some other relative of the parents, as a cousin. Only the departed ancestor was, therefore, renamed so long as the belief was a living force. The religious basis of the practice was that a departed ancestor is reborn and again rejoins the living members of the family if his/her name is given to the new-born child. ![]() Present day Scandinavians still "call up" deceased members of their families in this manner. Relatives recently dead, in particular, were thus remembered by their kindred, a custom resulting from a half belief that the spirit of the beloved dead lived again in the little child. ![]() It was very common to give children the names of honored relatives, for the Northmen believed that children would partake of the virtues of the ones whose names they bore. In some way the child was believed to inherit with the name the gifts or personality of their namesake: this belief almost seems to have been one of reincarnation of the named relative in the new child once the name was bestowed. In general, parents named their children after a deceased relative or hero. 37 Old Norse Names A brief look at how the Vikings named their children, with lists of names from the Viking Age with meanings.
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