TY - JOUR

T1 - A German colony in Jutland: the evidence of Christian names

AU - Eggert, Birgit

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - In 1760, invited by king Frederik V, immigrants came to Denmark from thesouthern parts of Germany. Uninhabited moorlands in Jutland needed to becultivated and the German immigrants were offered a number of inducementsto settle in Viborg County. Many of the German immigrants settled in a singleparish, Frederik’s Parish. Here the German language was used for services inthe parish church until 1856. Thereafter German and Danish services alternated,and from 1870 the church language was solely Danish.This investigation shows that in 1801, after about 40 years in Denmark, theimmigrants’ descendants still use Christian names that are different from thenational Danish pattern. But in 1880 many of the descendants bear a particularlyDanish development of a Nordic name, a name from the saints’ calendar,or a name from the Bible. The increase in these names took place in the 1850sjust after Denmark lost the war in 1848-50 against the German States, andDanish nationalism had arisen throughout the country. For this reason thedescendants of the German immigrants had a need culturally or politically toshow their Danish identity through the names about 20 years before the language of the church services became exclusively Danish in 1870.

AB - In 1760, invited by king Frederik V, immigrants came to Denmark from thesouthern parts of Germany. Uninhabited moorlands in Jutland needed to becultivated and the German immigrants were offered a number of inducementsto settle in Viborg County. Many of the German immigrants settled in a singleparish, Frederik’s Parish. Here the German language was used for services inthe parish church until 1856. Thereafter German and Danish services alternated,and from 1870 the church language was solely Danish.This investigation shows that in 1801, after about 40 years in Denmark, theimmigrants’ descendants still use Christian names that are different from thenational Danish pattern. But in 1880 many of the descendants bear a particularlyDanish development of a Nordic name, a name from the saints’ calendar,or a name from the Bible. The increase in these names took place in the 1850sjust after Denmark lost the war in 1848-50 against the German States, andDanish nationalism had arisen throughout the country. For this reason thedescendants of the German immigrants had a need culturally or politically toshow their Danish identity through the names about 20 years before the language of the church services became exclusively Danish in 1870.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - navneforskning

KW - personnavne

KW - fornavne

KW - minoriteter

KW - kartoffeltyskere

M3 - Journal article

VL - 46 (2011)

SP - 53

EP - 75

JO - Onoma

JF - Onoma

SN - 0078-463X

ER -