224 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



A different reason however for a change of name 

 in such a case is given by the Lapps. It was 

 believed that when a woman was near child-bed, one 

 of the ancestors appeared in a dream to her and 

 instructed her what name was to be given to her 

 child ; and ordinarily the ancestor in question was the 

 one who was about to be born again in the person of 

 the child. Failing any such intimation the name was 

 ascertained by divination. But if the babe sickened 

 or cried after baptism, it was deemed that the ancestor 

 had not been rightly identified. As it was necessary 

 to discover him in order to give his name to the child, 

 resort was had to a fresh baptism to correct the effects 

 of the previous one. 1 In Norway, if a pregnant woman 

 dream of one who is dead, the child must be named 

 after him. If the dream be of a man, and a girl be 

 born, the man's name must be feminised, and vice versa. 

 If she dream of more than one person, the names of all 

 must be given. 2 This perhaps resulted from the un- 

 certainty as to which of the dead who appeared was to 

 be identified with the coming stranger. The same 

 practice of giving a new-born babe the name of a 

 deceased person is to be traced back in the old Ice- 

 landic sagas, where a dying person often appeals to 

 is to " place him under the invocation " of that saint. The name 

 of Ghislain preserves the child from convulsions, that of Hubert 

 from hydrophobia and from toothache, and so forth (Bull. F. L. ii. 

 150). Compare also the African customs cited above, p. 214, note. 



1 Rhys, Celtic F. L. 658, where he has tracked to its source in an 

 old Scandinavian writer, whom he quotes, Prof. Tylor's authority for 

 the statement given by him (op. cit. 4) from Klemm's Culturgeschichte. 

 He adds from another Scandinavian writer of the eighteenth century 

 the reason for change of name. 



2 Liebrecht, 311. Compare the Irish legend of the birth of 

 Cuchulainn,D'Arbois de Jubainville, Ep. Celt. 37 ; Rev. Celt. ix. 12. 



