Today children are still given names with roots in the Viking period. The Viking names, however, were not forgotten. With the introduction of Christianity in the late Viking period, biblical names began to gain popularity. Important figures like Harald Bluetooth and Harald Fairhair are mentioned in these sources using only their forenames, but it is not known whether such names were used when they were actually alive. Asgot with the Red Shield).īut it is also likely that after the Viking period people were extremely imaginative with bynames, when Vikings from the ”old days” were described and written about. The name could also indicate a special quality or possession (e.g. Bjarke the Norwegian, who lived in Denmark). son of or daughter of) or the place that a person came from (e.g. These could, for example, indicate a kinship (e.g. Certain names gained a foothold in individual families, like Harald, Svend and Knud in the Danish royal family in the late Viking Age and early Middle Ages. But in the Viking Age especially, the names of the Norse gods and mythological animals gained ground. The name tradition had roots in the preceding period. They bit their shields and slew men, while they themselves were harmed by neither fire nor iron. This can be seen from the Viking communities in England, for example. Odin’s men berserkers and lfhenar went armor-less into battle and were as crazed as dogs or wolves and as strong as bears or bulls. As it was mainly the men who went on expeditions, we find more men’s than women’s names. We therefore can distinguish them from names used in other regions. Many of these names are specific to Scandinavia. A few foreign sources also mention the names of the Vikings. We are familiar with Viking names from, for instance, runic inscriptions and place names. “King Harald ordered these kumbls made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother that Harald who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian". On the Jelling Stone are the names Harald, Gorm and Thyra.
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