King’s College 2004 v Mistress Gunnvör sílfrahárr
20
Construction of Old Norse Personal
Names
How the Viking Age peoples selected names
vBased on recent lineage
and recent deceased near kin
wA child was always named
after a dead family member, ideally a direct forefather, but also paternal or maternal aunts or
uncles, great-aunts, or
great-uncles. When a close relative died shortly before the birth of a child, particularly while the child is in utero, the
child was always given the
name of the deceased. A son born after the father dies was always given the name of the father. When the
person-being-named-after has a
common name, the child is given the person-being-named-after's byname as well as the personal name.
vOlder practices
wAlliteration (the same
sound at the beginning of one name is repeated in another). Agni, Alrek, Yngvi, Iörund, Aun, Egil,
Óttar, Adils, Eystein, Yngvar,
Önund, Ingiald, Olaf were successive kings of the Uppsala dynasty, all with names beginning with a vowel.
wVariation (new name
differs from that of others in the family by changing one element in the name). A ninth-century
Norwegian Végeirr had sons
Vébjörn, Vésteinn, Véţormr, Vémundr, Végestr