History of Christian names

by Charlotte M. Yonge

There is no doubt of the meaning of fion. It is the same with the Cymric Gwynn, or Wynn, and like them signifies white, fair, or clear, as in the name of Lough Fyne.

One very remarkable feature in the history of Finn is that the same meaning of white attaches to it in ancient or poetical Scandinavian, though not in the other Teutonic languages; nor is the name found in any Teuton nation but the northern ones, except that in the Saxon chronicle, Finn is Odin’s fourth forefather, whereas he is his grandfather in the Edda.

In the great Anglian poem of Beowolf, Finn is king of the Frisians, but is conquered by the Danes, strangely enough, under Henghist; another poem, called the Battle of Finnsburh, records the strife—Finn lost half his kingdom, but the next year he killed Henghist; then being set upon by the other Danes, lost his crown and life. It is likely that, old as the poem is, it has been much altered, and that it really existed before the Anglian colonization of our island; indeed, there is reason to suppose that it was in memory of the burgh of this Frisian Finn, that Finsbury manor in the city of London acquired its name.

Finn is a giant in Norway, compelled by the good Bishop Laurence to erect the church at Lund, after which he was turned into stone by way of payment, wife, child, and all, as may still be seen. Again in Denmark as a trolld, he did the same service for Esbern Snare, building Kallundborg church, on condition that if his name was not guessed by the time the church was finished, his employer should become his property. As in the German tale of Rumpel Stitzchen, the danger was averted by the victim, just in time, overhearing this amiable lullaby in the hole of a rock—

“Be still, my babe, be still,

To-morrow comes thy father Finn,

Esbern’s heart and eyes for a toy thou shalt win.”

Next morning Esbern saluted Finn by his name, as he was bringing the last half-pillar, whereupon he flew away, pillar and all, wherefore the church only stands to this day on three pillars and a half!

Finn alone, and in combination, is rather a favourite in the North. The Landnama-bok, which gives the Icelandic genealogies from the settlements there in the ninth century down to the middle of the thirteenth, has five men named Finnr, two, Finni, and three ladies called Finna; and in the three countries in the, mainland it has been equally common, even to comparatively recent times, when Finn Magnusson was one of the chief authorities for Scandinavian antiquities. Among the compounds of the name, the Swedes have Finngaard, which their pronunciation contrives to make sound like Fingal, with what is called the “thick l;” and in modern times it is so spelt in allusion to Macpherson’s hero. The name Finnketyl, or Finnkjell, with the feminine Finnkatla, is explained as the cauldron or vessel of some semi-divine Finn. Kettles are rather common in the North, but almost always belong to some divinity of high rank. Finn has his weapons, as Finnbogi, or Finbo, a white bow; Finngeir, a white spear; his sport, as Finleik, white game or reward; his forest, as Finnvidr, or white wood; as well as his guardianship, as Finn-vardr, or white ward, all represented in northern nomenclature, in a manner analogous to those of the national deities.

All this makes it highly probable that Finn was an idea borrowed from the Gael by the Norsemen, especially as the hammer of Thor is sometimes to be heard in Scottish legend resounding in the hand of Finn. Fionn is still a name in Ireland, but in English is translated into Albany; and in Scotland Fionnlaoch, white soldier, has become Finlay.