Titel: Naming the children
Skrivet av: Rolf Berger skrivet 2002-11-07, 14:38
Hi! I can add a small item of curiosity interest: In my home parish (Orsa, Dalarna), there was long (during the 19th c. at least) a tradition for naming the first sons or daughters. Most common was to give the eldest son the name Anders, and the second Erik. Correspondingly, the first daughters were named Anna and Kerstin, respectively. Sometimes the order was broken;my grandfather was named Anders, and his elder brother was Erik. They had a sister, Anna (who died as a child). In their turn, Erik's first children were (in order) Anders, Erik, Gustav and Anna. Anders' first sons, born into the 20th century, were Anders Gösta and Erik Hjalmar. However, none of them were called by their first names. This strict name tradition was then starting to fail due to foreign influences, but the position of these names was still strong 50 years ago (and my brother and I carry these male names); and on the name days of our calendar (Nov. 30 and Dec. 9) people called Anders and Anna, respectively, were celebrated rather than on their birthdays. That reflected on the whole an old tradition to stress the dates of their names (which everybody would know) rather than of their birth (known only to friends and family). Regards Rolf