[Ansteorra] Obscure Name question

[Susan]

>Susan, only a fairly limited subsets of names have true equivalents culture
>to culture.  Most cultures have their own, unique stock of names and rules
>for how names are given and understood.  I think the names which most
>commonly appear cross-culturally may be Biblical names.

Yes, as one who has one of those and then I think all of our family names
are covered in the names of Saints, I am pretty used to finding them
everywhere.  It is an odd thing of what descriptive value names have in
different cultures.  For when the name was based on the meaning of it, fair
skinned one could appear in many places, or one with fiery hair or
temper.  I think one of my favorite things to being in the SCA has been
finding the origions of many different names that I had been unaware of.

A discussion of naming practices in different cultures would be of great
interest, is there are good source somewhere?  I am afraid if I go into
Stefan's Lair I may not be found for days, so only go to specific things
there as opposed to tempting fate with a search or 'heaven forbid' roaming
the stacks to see what looks interesting...  I think checking the stacks
for things out of place was one of my favorite sub tasks the two different
times I worked in libraries in school.

>Neighboring cultures do sometimes borrow names (and other words) from one
>another, of course -- there are, for example, several names in Sweden and
>Scandinavia that originated in Continental Germany, and lots of loan-words
>as well.
>
>::GUNNORA::
>
>(For sure most Viking names don't translate culture-to-culture...)

Yes, when names are borrowed, was it most often that it first appeared as
an honorific for someone of note from another culture?  Or just border
disemination?  Also, a discussion of friendly ethnic/cultural border
relationships between people, as opposed to all the places that have a
history of border scrimishes.  It would be interesting to know of places on
earth where the people got along with their neighbors and still remained
separate without much intermarring and blurring of the boundry of us and
them into a new us...

Susan the even more than usually curious today...