Rarely are the naming customs of any past society, let alone their practice of nicknaming, stated explicitly by members of that society. Therefore, the few examples which turn up are precious for understanding the real motivations behind them. A single passage in Old Icelandic literature reveals how medieval Icelanders may have thought regarding the significance of nicknames. In chapter 8 of Þorsteins saga hvíta, Þorsteinn‟s foster son
Brodd-Helgi („Spike-‟ Helgi) is given a nickname to commemorate his trickery for
attaching a spike to a young bull‟s forehead to level a fight with an older, larger bull, ending with disastrous results for the latter animal. His nickname is given and explained in relation to the pre-Christian custom of giving nicknames:
Fekk hann af þessu þat viðrnefni, at hann var kallaðr Brodd-Helgi, en þá þótti mǫnnum þat miklu heillavænligra at hafa tvau nǫfn. Var þat þá átrúnaðr manna, at þeir menn myndi lengr lifa, sem tvau nǫfn hefði.18
[He received the nickname from this event that he was called Brodd-Helgi, and back then it seemed to people greatly promising to have two names. At that time, it was people‟s belief that the people who had two names would live longer.]
18
This passage illustrates the value of having a nickname, and it also appears to have the ring of superstition or religious quality about it. The narrative here with a bull and a spike attached to his head for bettering his chances in the fight is also found as the explanation of Brodd-Helgi‟s nickname in the first chapter of Vápnfirðinga saga (ÍF XI, 24), but the explanation for the importance of having two names is left out. The bull fighting event with the attached spike also seems to have inspired the compiler of the Hauksbók version of Trójumanna saga to imitate it (cf. Jón Helgason 1976, 192-4; and Gísli Sigurðsson 2002, 142).19
A similar mention of Old Norse-Icelandic naming practice occurs in an isolated short paragraph from the late 17th century AM 281 fol. (103r),20 where the compounding of names of heathen gods to given names is described in theophoric constructions such as
Grímr + Þórr > Þorgrímr:
Hier biriar gømul Annal og ættartølur.
Þad er fródra manna søgn ad þad være sidur i firndinne, ad Draga af nøfnum Gudanna
nøfn sona sinna, so sem af Þórs nafne Þorolf, edur Þorstein edur Þorgrim, eda sa er Oddur hiet, first skillde heita af hans nafne Þóroddur sem Þormódur qvad vm Snorra goda og Odd son hans er kalladi Þorodd edur Þorbergur, Þorálfur, Þorleifur, Þorgeir. Enn eru fleire nofn Dreiginn af þeim gudum og Ásum, þo ad af Þór sie flest, menn høfdu þa og
mioc ij nofn, þotti þad lijklegt til langlijfis og heilla, þott nockrir fyrimællti þeim vid Gudinn, þa mundi þa ecki skada ef þeir ætti annad nafn.21
19 The added spike to the forehead of a bull motif is found only in chapter 7 of the Hauksbók version of the saga, where the trials of young Paris (called Alexandr in the saga) are described while in the wilderness around Mount Ida (Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson 1892-1896, 199). In the scene, a bull owned by the god Jupiter (alternatively, called Þórr here) is defeated by Alexandr‟s due to his having attached a spike to win the bull fight. That it only occurs in the 14th century version of the saga makes the thematic borrowing from the Brodd-Helgi nickname explanation more certain.
20 From ca. 1674-1675 A.D. This text also occurs in AM 115 8vo (ca. 1600-1649 A.D.) written by Björn Jónsson from Skarðsá, there with the heading “Annal. Eptir Hauksbók” and other minor textual variants. 21 From Tillæg X in Hauksbók (Eiríkur Jónsson and Finnur Jónsson 1892-1896, 503-4). A normalized version of this text is found in Guðbrandr Vigfússon‟s edition of Eyrbyggja saga (1864, 126) in a short appendix (Anhang 2).
[Here begin old annals and genealogies. It is a saying among wise men that this was the custom in ancient times, to draw their sons‟ names from the names of the gods, such as Þórólfr from Þórr‟s name, or Þorsteinn or Þorgrímr, or the one who was first called Oddr decided to be called by his name Þóroddr, just as Þormóðr said about Snorri goði and his son Oddr, whom he called Þóroddr, or Þorbergr, Þórálfr, Þorleifr, and Þorgeirr. Yet there are more names drawn from the gods and the Æsir, although Þórr is the most used, at that time people very often had two names, it seemed promising to a long life and well-being, though some people would swear themselves to the gods, then nothing would harm them if they had a second name.]
The important line for the purposes of understanding Icelandic name traditions,
normalized into Old Icelandic, would read: Menn hǫfðu þá ok mjǫk tvau nǫfn. Þótti þat líkligt til langlífis ok heilla, þótt nǫkkurir fyrirmælti þeim við goðin, þá mundi þá eigi skaða, ef þeir ætti annat nafn (People had very often had then two names. It seemed promising to a long life and well-being, though some people would swear themselves to the gods, then nothing would harm them if they had a second name). Although this passage is explaining the theophoric compounding of first names, it echoes the logic used to explain Brodd-Helgi‟s nickname in Þorsteins saga hvíta, that having a nickname, or in this case a name with two components (one of mythological origin), was considered a promising (heillavænligr) feature and would promote a long, healthy life. This passage contains an overlay of medieval etymology; yet it is another matter whether we can believe such explanations of medieval naming practices (especially one from such an late manuscript). The occurrence of the idea that having two names is lucky might account to a limited degree for reality. Doubt on those explanations ought not be cast too strongly, however, considering the continuity of naming traditions in Iceland, even though there is not enough evidence to accept them as historically verifiable.
Roughly the same idea regarding the importance of having two (or more) names was also found in medieval England. That is, having more than one name, especially an official name, reflected one‟s social status and signified high rank. In the discussion of surnames in Camden‟s Remaines concerning Britaine (1605), after noting that men of the lowest rank are always last in the Domesday Book, he provides reasoning for the adoption of surnames among those with a higher rank in medieval England by comparing them to the Romans:
But ſhortly after, as the Romans of better ſorte had three names according to that of
Iuvenal, Tamquam habeas tria nomina, & that of Auſonius, tria nomina nobiliorum. So it
ſeemed a disgrace for a Gentleman to have but one ſingle name, as the meaner ſorte and baſtards had. For the daughter and heire of Fitz-Hamon a great Lord, as Robert of
Glouceſter in the Librarie of the induſtrious Antiquary maiſter Iohn Stowe writeth, when
King Henry the firſt would have married hir to his baſe ſonne Robert, ſhe firſt refuſing anſwered;
It were to me a great ſhame,
To have a Lord without‟n his twa name.
whereupon the king his father gave him the name of Fitz-Roy, who after was earle of
Glouceſter, and the onely Worthy of his age.22
The quotes from Juvenal and Ausonius have to do with the idea that, in Roman society, having three names (praenomen, nomen, and cognomen) was a sign of high social status. Camden‟s explanation for the motivation behind European nobility adopting surnames in the Middle Ages is clever, but it is doubtful that the Roman name custom influenced the practice (though it is generally assumed that the adoption of surnames in the Middle Ages originated in France). Regarding the cutting distich in reply to the marriage proposal by King Henry I on behalf of his illegitimate son Robert, it is presumably by the Anglo- Norman noblewoman and Countess of Gloucester Mabel FitzRobert (1090-1157). It
22
comes as little surprise that as a result of her initial refusal to marry Robert, King Henry I surnamed his son Fitzroy („son of the king‟; fitz < Norman filz < Lat. filius „son‟), which looks like a regular Anglo-Norman patronymic but may have been given here as a kind of patronymic title. It should also be noted that the bastard son Robert married up in this situation. In any case, it seems that already in twelfth century England, if the account given here is reliable, the adoption of a second name was beneficial to one‟s status in society.
The ancient world provides a suitable analogue to the naming customs of
medieval Europe. Greco-Roman society, for example, considered having several names a symbol of one‟s high status. The Greek historian Plutarch described naming customs of the Romans and the Greeks in his vita of Gaius Marius from Parallel Lives:
[Of a third name for Caius Marius we are ignorant, as we are in the case of Quintus Sertorius the subduer of Spain, and of Lucius Mummius the captor of Corinth; for Mummius received the surname of Achaïcus from his great exploit, as Scipio received that of Africanus, and Metellus that of Macedonicus. From this circumstance particularly Poseidonius thinks to confute those who hold that the third name is the Roman proper name, as, for instance, Camillus, Marcellus, or Cato; for if that were so, he says, then those with only two names would have had no proper name at all. But it escapes his notice that his own line of reasoning, if extended to women, robs them of their proper names; for no woman is given the first name, which Poseidonius thinks was the proper name among the Romans. Moreover, of the other two names, one was common to the whole family, as in the case of the Pompeii, the Manlii, or the Cornelii (just as a Greek might speak of the Heracleidae or the Pelopidae), and the other was a cognomen or epithet, given with reference to their natures or their actions, or to their bodily appearances or defects, Macrinus, for example, or Torquatus, or Sulla (like the Greek Mnemon, Grypus, or Callinicus). However, in these matters the irregularity of custom furnishes many topics for discussion.]23
Plutarch notes a discrepancy among Roman authors regarding the need for three names among nobility, and he mentions it because the subject of this vita is only known to have
23
had two names, a situation similar to women who were always denied a praenomen (cf. the description of the four types of Roman names, above). He also explains the origin of
cognomina as the original nicknames of the Romans, later turned inheritable clan names.
The cognomina he mentions are, in fact, all nicknames in origin: Macrinus < macer „thin, meager‟, Torquatus „wearing a twisted collar or necklace‟, Sulla/Sylla < syl „burned red rock‟, Mnemon „mindful‟, Grypus „hook nose‟, and Callinicus „beautiful victor‟. A list of Roman cognomina such as these could go on to almost no end.
If it is true that in Old Norse society nicknames were thought to increase one‟s luck, it is hardly surprisingly that the number of nicknames an individual could have or be given was not limited to one. Many prominent people, primarily (but not only) those of the ruling class, are found with multiple nicknames. FJ (361-362) provided a thorough summary of individuals possessing more than one byname, and it will be useful to copy the names from his list to show how many such individuals there were. Those with two nicknames joined by ok „and‟ include:
Helga en hárprúða ok en siðláta „the splendid hair and the well-mannered‟ Steinbjǫrn enn sterki ok stórhǫggvi „the strong and big blow dealer‟
Rǫgnvaldr enn ríki ok enn ráðsvinni „the powerful and the shrewd‟
Hálfdan enn mildi ok enn matarilli „the generous and the stingy with food‟ (note that the last three men‟s nicknames alliterate)
A few individuals have two bynames without ok between them:
Arnórr enn góði Rauðæingr „the good‟ and „dweller on Rauðá (Red-River)‟ Þorkell leifr enn hávi „descendant, heir‟ and „the tall‟
Þorfinnr sviðbrandr lúðrsveinn „firebrand‟ and „trumpeter‟
There are also those with two or more bynames that changed during different periods of their life:
Surtr enn hvíti „the white‟ – Skaptastjúpr „Skapti‟s stepson‟
Arnórr enn mœrski „the man from Møre (Norway)‟ – Mœrakarl „man from Møre‟ Úlfr enn vǫrski „man from Voss (Norway)‟ – Vǫrsa-Úlfr „Voss‟-Úlfr
Hávarðr enn halti „the lame‟ – ísfirðingr „man from Ísafjǫrðr‟ Þórarinn svarti „the black‟ – máhlíðingr „man from Mávahlíð‟ Haraldr hárfagri „fair hair‟ – lúfa „shock head‟
Ǫzurr lafskegg „dangling beard‟ – tóti „protuberance, nub?‟ Helga væna „the fine‟ – fagra „the fair‟
Sneglu-Halli „Sarcasm-‟ Halli; „Slender Body-‟ Halli; „Weaver‟s Shuttle-‟ Halli?‟
– Grautar-Halli „Porridge-‟ Halli – Hreðu-Halli „Disturbance-‟ Halli – Eyglu-
Halli „Little Eyed-‟ Halli?‟
Refr Rennisfífl „Rennir‟s fool (= son)‟ – Gjafa-Refr „Gifts-‟ Refr Pétr steypir „caster, moldmaker‟ – Svína-Pétr „Pigs-‟ Pétr Eyvindr hani „cock, rooster‟ – túnhani „field rooster‟ Sigurðr ullstrengr „wool string‟ – ullband „wool yarn‟ A few individuals have three nicknames:
Hólmgǫngu-Bersi „Duel-‟ Bersi – Eyglu-Bersi „Little Eyed-‟ Bersi? – Raza-Bersi
„Ass-Bersi‟
Bjǫrn kaupmaðr „merchant‟ – farmaðr „traveler‟ – buna „ungartered; bone shaft?‟ Aðalsteinn enn trúfasti „the faithful‟ – sigrsæli „the victorious‟ – góði „the good‟
Guðrøðr veiðikonungr „hunting king‟ – gǫfugláti „the generous‟ – mikilláti „the proud, grand‟
There are a couple individuals who have four nicknames:
Hálfdan hvítbeinn „white-legged‟ – háleggr „high-legged‟ – háfœta „high feet‟ –
heikilnef „crooked nose‟
Eysteinn illi „the bad‟ – illráði „the wicked‟ – harðráði „hard-rule‟ – ríki „the powerful‟
Lastly, there are a couple of individuals with five nicknames:
Hrói auðgi „the wealthy‟ – heimski „the foolish‟ – prúði „the elegant‟ – spaki „the wise‟ – Slysa-Hrói „Mishap-‟ Hrói
Magnús berfœttr „barefoot‟ – berbeinn „barelegged‟ – berleggr „barelegged‟ – enn
hávi „the tall‟ – Styrjaldar-Magnús „Age of Unrest-‟ Magnús
As is apparent from this list of individuals with multiple nicknames, the diversity of the names and the circumstances from which they gained them varied greatly. Similarly, the fact that people could have several nicknames reflects different origins and social functions of them – after all, to call a person (and this is an extreme but instructive example) Hrói auðgi „the wealthy‟, Hrói heimski „the foolish‟, Hrói prúði „the elegant‟, Hrói spaki „the wise‟, or Slysa-Hrói „Mishap-‟ Hrói could only have come about as the result of different events or actions in that individual‟s life as well as in different social settings.