Animal art and personal names in Iron Age Scandinavia: Different media – corresponding cultural codes?

This article addresses Scandinavian Iron Age personal names from the perspective of Iron Age visual art: animal styles. Introducing the naming system of 2nd to 8th century Scandinavia as a part of the Germanic system, it begins by discussing the relevance of semantic content. While the meaning of personal names is often considered unimportant or secondary, this article contests this view, arguing that the seemingly meaningless variations of compounded names have parallels in visual communication. Studies of animal art demonstrate a play with ambiguity and cunning, changing species and hybrids, communicating meanings that seem obscure to us today. In this light, it is suggested that name elements functioned as central parts of identity formation, drawing on lines of association to communicate ideals of the individual's qualities, social