Page 36 - FUD20

BUZGÓ ANITA
36
First name giving practices in Tornio
in the second half of the 19th century
The aim of this paper is to describe the first name giving practices in Tornio
in the 19th century. Earlier, this town had had predominantly Swedish po-
pulation. By the 19th century, the Finnish outnumbered the Swedish in the
town, and this is well-reflected in the first names available in written records.
The studied period has been divided into two parts for the purposes of the
study; period I between 1860 and 1880, and period II between 1881 and
1901. The frequency study has shown an observable change within the group
of both men’s and women’s names, and the appearance of new names among
the most popular names. Furthermore, the number of names given to only
one child in Tornio rose. The earlier fashionable Latin- and Greek-origin wo-
men’s names were replaced by Finnish or Finnicized names. Finnish first
names became popular within the group of men’s names as well, but the im-
portant role of Germanic and Scandinavian men’s names was retained. In the
second half of the 19th century, the practice of giving multiple names became
wide-spread, and this tendency was further strengthened in period II. Giving
the newer, fashionable names as first names and the more traditional ones as
middle names had become a generally accepted practice. Middle names were
often passed down from the parents to the children.
ANITA BUZGÓ