112 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



a man to be known by three names : his 

 Christian name, that of his father with the 

 termination -sen, and that of the place at 

 which he lives, whether he owns it or not. 

 For instance, Ole Jacobsen Langeland signifies 

 Ole the son of Jacob, who lives at Langeland. 

 His son will probably be christened Jacob, 

 and his full name will be Jacob Olsen Lange- 

 land. If he moves to Utvik, he will be called 

 Jacob Olsen Utvik. If he goes to a town or 

 to America, he probably, but not always, drops 

 the territorial name and becomes Jacob Olsen. 

 And then it is usual for Olsen to crystallize 

 into a surname, and for his children to be 

 called Olsen too. It is not so long since a 

 similar custom prevailed in Wales. David 

 Evans was the son of Evan Davies, and his 

 son in turn was called by his grandfather's 

 name. Evans and Davies are now surnames, 

 but it was just a matter of chance which 

 genitive form came to be adopted by the 

 family. 



There seems to be a taste for giving rather 

 high-sounding names to girls : Christine and 

 Severine we have met with. The men are 

 chiefly Anders, Jens, Simon, Knudt (Canute), 



