Name of Saints Between Byzantium and Europe

Abstract

The text, which is an excerpt from a book about the city of Amalfi in the Middle Ages, examines the spread of the cultural practice of giving the name of the Mother of God in the Middle Ages from Byzantium to Europe and the development of the socalled " Marian group" of names around the names Mary (Maria) and Anna. The naming after the name of John the Baptist, which became the most popular male name was also related to the Mother of God and had its origins in Byzantium. The spread of Saints’ names was connected also with the cultural processes following icon veneration over iconoclasm in the middle of the 9th century. An important role in this spread during the Middle Ages was played by the Italian towns in Campania region, and especially Amalfi and Naples and their communications with Byzantium.