This article describes the current state of research on personal names in society and identifies important challenges for future work in this area. It is a printed version of a lecture aimed chiefly at advanced students. Proceeding from an understanding that names are conditioned by society and, as a result, shed light on it, the author discusses a number of different themes. Key among them are personal names and religion in the Nordic region, personal names and family ties, and the relationship between men's and women's names.
Differences in the distribution of formation types in derivative place-names in the Nordic countries