Bill East wrote (concerning the use of pagan names in medieval Scandinavia):

 

"Are we sure, though, that those are the names used at their baptism? One may, for example, be baptised Boniface but commonly known by the non-Christian name of Wynfrith. Little girls are frequently confirmed Bernadette, but seldom actually known by that name - they continue to be Chelsea, or Charlton Athletic or whatever."

 

Interesting point. How much evidence do we have from Europe that the people with non-saints names had been baptised under an other name? Did all the Walters, Henrys, Richards and Bernards cluttering up the monasteries and thrones of Europe have another, real, baptismal name and if so why don't we get to hear of it more often, even when some of them spend all their time with God?

 

 I would rather have assumed that Bonifacius is a special case, because he is so close to the pagan tradition, but that later on in the middle ages the need to demonstrate your Christianity in this way would be less strongly felt. But this may well be my ignorance.

 

From Sweden I have noted

 

a) that even a priest can fulfil his priestly functions under the name of Thor (the name clearly has lost its pagan resonance)

 

b) that even such a devout couple as Saint Birgitta and her husband do not feel obliged to give all their children saints' names. In fact, their offspring is fairly evenly divided:

 

Gudmar (the eldest, after his grandfather), Karl, Birger and Ingeborg on the side of tradition

 

Bengt (Benedictus), Märta, Cecilia, Katarina on the side of the saints (though these may of course also have been family names by then; I havent't checked the family)

Interesting stuff....

Lena Wahlgren-Smith

 

 

P.S. Would St Thor be more shocking, really, than St Dionysius?