Naming practices and the importance of kinship networks in early nineteenth-century iceland

The article argues that parents in early nineteenth-century Iceland felt inclined to strengthen kinship ties by naming children for their grandparents. This was particularly the case with oldest children in the family. Moreover, naming traditions indicate that parents tried to preserve the patrilineage by naming their first-born sons for grandparents on the father's side. Parents felt much freer in the choice of names for their youngest children, often giving them rather unusual names. It was also rather common to name youngest daughters after their mothers. These practices conformed to the naming patterns in societies with patronymic naming systems: by naming children for grandparents or great-grandparents, parents are able to keep particular forenames within the family and thus preserve an important link to the past.