Nancy

Scandinavians named their offspring this way as well. Family was very important and thus they wanted to make it clear who descended from who. So.. if Valdemar had a son called Sven he would be known as Sven Valdemarssøn (Valdemar's søn=son) and if he had a daughter by the name of Freja she would be known as Freja Valdemarsdatter (Valdemar's datter=daughter). If Sven had a son called Bjørn he would be known as Bjørn Svenssøn etc. But! If Freja had a son called Tjalfe he wouldn't be known as Tjalfe Frejassøn. It was only men who were allowed to pass on his name to his offspring so Frejas children would be named after her husband instead.

The vikings continued this usage of names from around the year 800 until around 1536 where people began to use permanent last names. The "ø" in "søn" was slowly replaced with an "o" or an "e" over the years...

Fascinating isn't it?!

Sometimes the parents name their kids after their grandparents but it's not that common here in Denmark. I'd say that 95% of our names are not related to any relatives at all but are chosen simply because the parents like the name. That is the case with my name - they gave me the name Nancy simply because they loved it. I did, however, get my middlename from my father who had gotten it from his grandfather. My family lineage will be known by this middlename in our family instead of our last name.

My last name is Pedersen so that means that I descended from a man named Peder. I'd like to study my genealogical tree some time and see if I can track him down

__________________
I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy.
I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.