About finnish myths, and folklore

I promised you to shed some light to the etymology of the names we picked for the little one. As I said, they all come from finnish national book, Kalevala that turned 160 years (in writing, stories are as old as age) last saturday so what could be better celebration.

Our family name comes from Kalevala, which was the reason why whe liked these names in the first place. Roughly translated it means "folk of Louhi", Louhi being the wicked witch of the story, the mother north and origin of all evil.

Kalervo, his third name, is a patriarch of a magnificent family in the Kalevala myths. He also lives in Karjala from which is the origins of our family name. It didn't bother either that my grandfather is Kalervo.

Tapio, his second name, is the king if the forest people in our folk lore. It's also the name of our neighborhood, Tapiola, garden city of Finland. Hopefully he'll like it in these woods.

Sampo, his given name, is a magical device that makes salt, grain and money from thin air. It's made as a present to Louhi, the mother of north in exchange for her daughter. And that he is, a truly unique and wonderful present to us.

Maybe he'll one day also be a famous footballer, ice hockey player, formula 1 driver or (as we hope) a snowboarder, who grinds money to us poor parents. ;)