In my effort to be historically authentic, I adopted medieval names for my Danish and Saxon characters, however, there appears to be lingering confusion about them. This blog explains the reasoning and provides an insight into the lineage of the Agneson Clan. The convention used by Danes in the historical period is really easy to understand. As a patriarchal society, a newborn was provided a given name and was designated the son or daughter of their father. The first-born son was most often given the name of his father to continue the name in the lineage. For example, a boy might be named Bjorn, Son of Bjorn, or “Bjorn Bjornson.” A girl might be named Hilda, Daughter of Sven, or “Hilda Svensdatter.”
Obviously, with each generation carrying the last generation’s names forward as a legacy, if multiple generations were in the same household it could be confusing for readers. My assumption is that if the eldest son still lived with his parents, he could be given a nickname. In order to manage a number of characters in the Forerunner Series who are named the same as their father, I have given them nick-names, such as Tormod, Son of Tormod is commonly called “Espen,” a name his mother preferred, and of course, the main character Agne, Son of Agne is called “Cub” short for bear-cub. Here is the lineage for Alf Ironfist, the patriarch of our fictitious clan and Agne’s father.
To confirm a relationship with an important alderman of Mercia, Alf married his second son Agne Alfenson to Gurid of Mercia, a brokered marriage to confirm a business relationship, as well as an acknowledgement of the attraction between the couple. It was a dangerous time in the petty kingdoms before the unification of England: Alf Ironfist and his eldest son Alf Alfenson were murdered at some point before the events of the novels, and the family name Alf Alfenson was lost to the family. Uncle Karl is also an “Alfenson,” while all the children of Agne are named his sons and daughters, so “Cub” is Agne Agneson, our forerunner is Thorfinn Agneson and his sister is Kara Agnesdatter.