Sámi naming traditions in the Lyngen area
Introduction
In the 1970s and 80s, names like Bieraš Ovllá, Buljohk Áne and Bikkul Ánte were common in Olmmáivággi (Manndalen) even though the conversations were in Norwegian. The names were a completely natural part of daily life and culture. If you go to other places, you will find that this is an oral naming tradition that is common in Sámi areas. The tradition involves using one or more nouns before the first name. The most common was that a parent’s name was put before the first name when referring to a person. I can use my grandmother as an example. She was always called Málu Siinná . Málu was Siinná’s mother. Another fairly common variant was that a place name was put before the personal name. (Complete table of…).
Although the tradition has been used over large geographical areas, little research or documentation of the tradition has been done. In this project, I wanted to document the use of the Sámi naming tradition around the Lyngenfjord. The project has been about collecting names and finding information about the background of the names.
According to Rasmussen (2012), most of the original North Sámi names went out of written use in the 15th-17th centuries. At the same time, she points out that there was a parallel oral naming tradition since the 17th century. In the few articles I have come across on this topic, it is said that it was most common for the father’s name to be used before the proper name. Some exceptions are mentioned, such as the mother’s name always being used when the child is born out of wedlock even if the father is known (Solem 1933:56).
Figure 1: The survey areas are marked with orange shading
Numbers and examples of names
In total, I documented 356 people with traditional Sámi name patterns, i.e. names that had at least two syllables. There were 280 in Olmmáivággi, 68 in Dálusvággi (Olderdalen) and eight in Lyngen. In addition to names from parents and places, some also received names from spouses, relatives and other things. Of the 280 documented names in Olmmáivággi, there are 129 female names and 152 male names.
Figure 2: Distribution of the first letters in names from Olmmáivággi divided into categories
In Olmmáivággi we see that parents are by far the largest group of first names in the name. A full 78.7% of the people were named after their parents. 114 people were named after their mother and 107 were named after their father. There were 35 people who had a place name as the first name. It seems that it was common for people on the outskirts of the village to be mentioned by place names. Examples are Váddj Ántun and Skuole Hánsa. Another type of name is from places outside the village. People who moved in sometimes took the place name with them from their hometown. Examples are Gáivuon Biera, Buljohk Áne and Ittarvuon Juhán (The place names can be looked up on norgeskart.no).
There were seven people in Olmmáivággi, who had the name from their husbands in the first part. For two of the people, both the former name and the new name are documented. Jánna from Vatnet was first called Ján Iŋggá Jánná. She married Migá who lived at Geađgečorru. After that she became Migá Jánná. Čor Iŋggá Pede r lived in Áhkavággi (Kjerringdalen) when he was young. Mother Iŋgá was from Čorru, a ridge in Áhkavággi. Then he married Bikke Johánná in Hánnosiida. Johanna was the daughter of Bigge. Peder moved to Johánná’s home and after that he became Bikke Peder. I have not found any information about why the village gave these people new names when they got married.
Image: When Bertus Iŋgá in Olmmáivággi shared her knowledge for the project, she did so in Sámi.
There were 15 names in the group called “other” in Olmmáivággi. The names here have different origins. Some people have been named after the home they lived in. An example is Mártá, daughter of Biehtár Ovllá. Ovllá settled in Gáiskeriidi. According to the family, there was a shed after roadworks on the property when Ovllá bought it. Ovllá put turf on the barracks to insulate it and used it for housing. The building became known as Bráhka, Mártá grew up in it and was therefore called Bráhke Mártá.
Another custom that can be mentioned is that the only daughter or son in a family was often called Bárdni (boy) and Nieida (girl). An example is Girst Iŋggá Nieidá. The grandmother’s name was Girste and the mother Iŋggá. The girl herself was called Marie in Norwegian. Another example is Ánton, who after the Second World War was referred to as Sjåbakken in Norwegian. In Sámi, his name was Mihk Áne Bártni. He was the only son of Áne, who in turn was the daughter of Migu.
Dálusvággi (Olderdalen)
Of the 68 documented names in Dálusvággi, 22 are female names and 46 are male names. 13 people have the first part of their name after their mother and 29 people have the first part of their name after their father. As we can see, the proportion of people with the first part of their name from their mother is less than half of those with the name from their father.
Figure 3: Distribution of the first letters in names from Dálusvággi divided into categories
There were 11 people who had a place name as the first part of their name. Seven of the eleven had Čoru as the first part and were from the same family. The brothers Čor Erik and Čoru Henrik are the oldest in this group. Čoru is not on the map, but it is a ridge located about 800 m inside (south of) the Olderdalselva River. There were seven people in Dálusvággi who had the name from their spouses in the first part. All seven were women, i.e. the wife had taken her husband’s name.
There were eight people in the group called “other”. Three of the names come from names with unknown meaning, including the brothers Čorka Per and Čork Ola. Čork Ola was later given the name Flynder Ola, at least in Norwegian. He was given the new name because he was a very active flounder fisherman.
Lyngen - Ivgu
In Lyngen I only got eight names documented. From Mellomjord I got, among others, the names Pettu Aksel and Rinde Petter. Pettu Aksel was adopted and the name Pettu originally came from Storfjord. The name Rinde has an unknown origin. In Gohppi (Koppangen) I got, among others, the names Anton Jenssa Jenny and Skáidi Málu documented. Jenny got her name from the man she was married to. Skáidi Málu got her name from the place she lived on Skáidi is not on the map, but was in the middle of Gohppi.
An informant in Gohppi was born in 1932. She did not speak Sami herself, but her parents had spoken Sami when the children did not understand. This suggests that Norwegianization took hold earlier in Lyngen than in Kåfjord, where children learned Sámi in the 1930s. Through the Sámi language death, the naming tradition also disappeared earlier. The few names that are still remembered seem to have changed to Norwegian language forms.
Name from mother or father - geographical differances
In Dálusvággi we saw that the proportion of people with the first part of their name from their mother was less than half of those with the name from their father. The results from Olmmáivággi, on the other hand, were that the mother’s and father’s names were approximately evenly distributed. In an unpublished note, Qvigstad (ca. 1950) writes that the mother’s name in the first part has been common in Olmmáivággi, Sørfjorden in Ullsfjord and perhaps in Kautokeino. Why do these places stand out? Initially, I have thought that Olmmáivággi is/has been a place with a very high proportion of Sámi population and strong Sámi culture. Even after several decades of Norwegianization, approx. 80% of the population in Olmmáivággi had Sámi as their daily language around the year 1900 (Bjerkli and Thuen 1998). Inner Sørfjorden in Ullsfjord had a Sámi proportion of around 90 % in the year 1900 (Larsen 2008:124).
But what about Storfjord? Storfjord had a high proportion of Sámi population in the 19th century, but in the 1930 census the proportion counted as Sámi was 26%. The number with Sámi as a daily language was only 16%. If you compare this with the whole of Kåfjord, the number counted as Sámi there was 50% and the number with Sámi as a daily language was 45% (SST 1930). When you also know that it was in the inner parts of Kåfjord, Olmmáivággi, Skárfvággi and Gáivuonvággi that the proportion of Sámi was highest, you see that Olmmáivággi differs greatly from Storfjord in 1930.
Image 2: Peder Mathisen in Dálusvággi had a great knowledge of Sámi names
If we look back to Dálusvággi, I believe that the development I have outlined for Storfjord also fits in there. A quick review of the 1900 census for the Numedalen to Gáivuonorrid (Kåfjordbergan) section showed that out of 46 households, one or both of the main persons were Finnish/Kven in 17 of them. In Olmmáivággi, I found two households in the 1900 census where a main person had Finnish/Kven ethnicity.
To summarize, I think that in places where the Sámi language is strong, the traditional Sámi naming tradition is also strong. In this tradition, the mother’s name could just as easily be used as the first member as the father’s name. This probably also says something about the fact that women’s position has traditionally been stronger. Conversely, I think that in places with stronger Norwegianization and a smaller proportion of Sámi population, the Norwegian naming tradition has more influence. In a Norwegian context, the name is consistently passed down through the father’s line. I assume this may have had an impact on the Sámi tradition as well.
What about Kven names?
Imerslund (among others 2010) has written about the Kven naming tradition in Nordreisa. The tradition she describes is quite similar to the one I describe in the Lyngen area. Then it can be asked whether some of the names I have collected could be Kven? However, Kven names in Nordreisa have Kven/Finnish words in them and also have special Finnish endings (-i, -in, -en). I have not found any such names in Kåfjord.
Old pre-Christian names?
Many of the names used in the Sámi naming tradition can be recognized from a Norwegian perspective by their similarity to Scandinavian/Christian names. Examples of such names are Biret, Inga, Jovnna and Niilás. But I also believe that there are names that do not have such clear parallels to Scandinavian names. Examples of this are Nigu, Begas, Billá and Málu. My theory is that some of these may be old pre-Christian Sámi names, which have only survived in oral tradition. One of the names that sounds old to me is Bikkul. Bikkul lived in Áhkavággi and is listed as Berit Eriksen in the censuses. Bikkul does not resemble the Norwegian name Berit much.
Some names used in Norwegian have a wide variety of Sámi parallels. The name that in Norwegian was Berit, in Sámi could be Biret, Binná, Billá, Bio, Bigge and Bikkul . Peder in Norwegian could be called Biera, Bieraš, Biere, Bierran, Piersa, Pierso, Biehtár, Pede, Begas, Begaš, Pelle, Petta, Pette, Petto and Biede in Sámi. I think it is quite possible that several of these have persisted for centuries and are original Sámi first names.
An oral tradition
The documentation shows a widespread tradition in the Lyngen area with a special parental name before the proper name. Almost all people had such names and the names were known and used by everyone. At the same time, everyone had a Norwegian “official” name. The Norwegian name was used in baptisms, marriages and in public documents. However, the Norwegian written culture had little to do with daily life. Very many, at least until the Second World War, were not familiar with the culture or the names that public authorities used.
A fairly well-known story from Olmmáivággi can serve as an example. It was like this: someone from the authorities came to Olmmáivággi and wanted to get hold of Peder Øverli. He tried to ask a man in the neighborhood if he knew where Peder Øverli lived. The man replied: “No, I don’t know. Ask Bikke Peder, he’ll come there”. The insiders had then realized that Peder Øverli was the official name of precisely Bikke Peder.
Another example of the cultural clash is more serious and symbolic. My mother’s uncle, Kristiinná Ovllá, was a gravedigger at the cemetery in Olmmáivággi for a long time. It was common for people to come and see the grave of someone close to them, but often they couldn’t find it. The problem was that they only knew the Sámi name of the relative, while the tombstones had the official Norwegian names. Ovllá was well-known in both the village and the municipality and had learned the official names. When he happened to be there, he could show them to the right grave.
Norwegianization and continuation
The tradition of Sámi naming declined strongly after the Second World War. But those who had already been given a name kept it. The “old” names were used in Sámi, but also in Norwegian when the majority of the population switched to speaking Norwegian. Roggi Jákob lived in Roggi in Dálusvággi. He became Gropa Jakob for many . Another example is Máret Ovllá from Áhkavággi. He eventually became Máret Ola and Mart Ola in Norwegian. Some names have probably only existed in Norwegian dialect. An example from Olmmáivággi is Brøyte Ivar who drove the plow in the village in the 1960s-80s.
Málá Tor (b. 1952, Áhkavággi) is the son of Ján Ingg Áne Málá. Málá’s great-great-grandmother, Jánná, was born in 1818. The great-great-great-grandchild, Mála Tor is a wandering perpetuator of the naming tradition. Today, some young people in the Lyngen area are also taking back their traditional Sámi name. Only time will tell if and possibly in what form the tradition will be continued.
By: Tor Mikalsen/ Málu Siinna Jámpu Ture / Rávnná Márry Turru
Read the full report with all the details here (in norwegian)…. Rapport – Samisk navnetradisjon i Lyngenområdet(1)
The project has received financial support from the Sámi Parliament and Troms and Finnmark County Council.
Sources
Bjerkli, Bjørn and Thuen, Trond 1998: On the use of the Black Forest in Manndalen: report prepared for the Outback Commission for Nordland and Troms. B. 1
Imerslund, Bente 2010: Kven naming tradition. In Speculum Boreale No. 13. Series of papers from the Department of History and Religious Studies. University of Tromsø
Larsen, Birgit 2008: Marriage and ethnicity. Sami, Norwegians and marriage in Karlsøy 1770-1900. Dr. art thesis Univ. of Tromsø.
Rasmussen, Siv 2012: “ Names in northern Sápmi in the 16th – 17th centuries – or the names that disappeared”. In Names and differences – The difference between names , Report from the fifteenth Nordic Congress of Name Studies at Askov College, 6–9 June 2012.
SST 1930: The 1930 Census in Norway. Fourth issue. Sami and Kven. Citizens of other countries. Blind, deaf-mute, mentally retarded and insane.
Solem, Erik 1933 [1970.]: Lappish legal studies. Oslo–Bergen–Tromsø.
Unpublished sources
Qvigstad, Just K. ca 1950. Ms.8° 1466 “Lappish personal and family names” (notebook)
Most of the informants involved in this project:
Bertus Iŋgá and Márry Turru
Peder Mathisen
Henrik Albrigtsen
Judith Hansen
Kåre Olsen
Liv Lien
Malá Tor
Mary Mikalsen Trollvik
Nille Peder – Peder Skogvang
Sonja Leiros
Valborg Josefsen
Bertus Iŋgá
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