As ye can see, I do not like simple alfabetical lists of ON names,
where one finds a name like Boddi sandwiched in between rows of
unrelated names, often compound-names where the group as a whole is
spread out over many unrelated names due to various mutations of the
first element. Very messy, and of no help in explaining the names, as
they do not stand in relation to other names that help to clarify
their meaning, declension and the like. About the only thing that can
be said for alphabetization of ON names (alef, bet? I think in
Hebrew) is that it makes names easy to find is you know the order of
the letter in a given alphbet, and the spelling of the name. Now, I
do alphbetize my name, more correctly futharkize them after the ON
alphabet, but only into very short sections, where the names either
are related, or in the case of compound names, share the same second
element. For someone who is serious about learning, or understanding,
the ON naming tradition, I think some such system makes more sense. I
have held several talks on names, and through trial and error I
learned that simple alphbetical lists do not work. Folk simply ignore
unrelated names occuring in a list, where they are often looking for
some name they are already familiar with, or looking to see how many
names begin with a given prefix. Not much learning going on. After
changing systems, I have noticed that folk are far more interested in
all kinds of names than before, ask more questions, do more research,
and end up with a deeper understanding of the naming tradition as a
whole. Folk learn to relate names to other names, which really helps
when the problem is often memorizing long lists of meanings. The tie-
ins are the key here. If ye adopt no such system, ye w ill forget the
meanings of many names, and end up in the etymological dictionaries,
or other name-books, over and over again. Worse, ye w ill forget the
names themselves. As for listing compounds by first element, which
was not the primary element, in who's shoes would ye rather stand, a
man's who learned, for example, the name Thordr from a list of names
begining in Thor-, but who does not recall the meaning other than
that it relates to Thorr, or a man's who learned the name under a
category -fridr, frith, and not only understands the name, but can
relate it to other names in -frith? One learns more with the same
time spent, and better, in the latter's shoes, I think, and know from
my experience holding talks on ON names. If ye can organize the names
I give here into a good system, then do so, and share the system for
the benefit of others. If it taught you the names, then it must
work. -Konrad