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Denmark Personal Names: Difference between revisions
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*If one spouse died, the other remarried, and children were born to the new pair, the couple usually named the first child of the same sex after the deceased spouse. If a child died, the next child of the same sex often got the first child’s name. | *If one spouse died, the other remarried, and children were born to the new pair, the couple usually named the first child of the same sex after the deceased spouse. If a child died, the next child of the same sex often got the first child’s name. | ||
These Scandinavian naming customs were so constraining that many people in a given village had the same names as some fellow villagers. There | These Scandinavian naming customs were so constraining that many people in a given village had the same names as some fellow villagers. There were couples all around Denmark with the same names as many other couples. | ||
The military | The military was so plagued by this problem that they began assigning random surnames to soldiers like 'Berg' (mountain), 'Bergstrom' (mountain stream), etc. to uniquely identify all the men with the same names. Some people, or the clerics in their parish, started appending the occupation (Væver = Weaver; Smed = blacksmith) or the name of the farm they lived on to their surnames. Westergaard meant West Farm, Ostergaard meant East Farm, and so forth. (The same problems existed in Sweden & Norway.) | ||
Danish genealogical records may be in Danish, Latin (rarely, however), or German. Church records in German were the common rule in the Schleswig counties Aabenraa, Haderslev, Sønderborg and Tønder) until 1920. Names are often very different when translated into different languages. For example—<br> | Danish genealogical records may be in Danish, Latin (rarely, however), or German. Church records in German were the common rule in the Schleswig counties Aabenraa, Haderslev, Sønderborg and Tønder) until 1920. Names are often very different when translated into different languages. For example—<br> | ||