Ringer Spy Thorbjørn was kind enough to translate and email an article that appeared in the Danish newspaper Urban a while ago about the popularity of the movies over there!
The following article from Copenhagen “free-newspaper” Urban is a bit old, but I laid it aside this summer, for future translation, since I believe the users of TORn really ought to see it. The text bears witness to just how massive the cultural impact of both movies and book really is. And, none the least, just how perfect the casting of Orlando Bloom as Legolas was – amazing!
Legolas and Gandalf a hit with Danish parents
J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” is making people name their children after hobbits and wizards. And that really isn’t that terrible, 21-year-old Gandalf Martinus Reid says.
BY LARS WIKBORG AND NOE HABERMANN
DENMARK * First the trilogy became among the best-selling books ever. Then the cinema editions of the fairy-tales created new, grotesque records for ticket-sales.
The most recent proof of the quality of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is now being seen on the desks of parish clerks all over the country.
From the Institute of Name Science, Michael Lerche Nielsen tells that three boys – two of these since the first movie in 2001 – have been named after the handsome Elven warrior Legolas, who alongside the hobbits kills as many orcs as he can manage during an all-night movie.
Norse mythology
“We were a bit hesitant to approve the name, since it is close to a known toy-brand. But because the name has the ending “las”, which we use in other names, and because “The Lord of the Rings” stems from, among other things, the Norse mythology, we have chosen to approve the name Legolas on special occasions,” says Michael Lerche Nielsen, who is among the evaluators when someone wants to call their children something strange.
The good wizard Gandalf also has a couple of Danish social security cards on his conscience. Two years ago, two parents let their son suffer their love of adventure, and named him after the leader of the Fellowship. The little Gandalf needn’t fear teasing when he begins in kindergarten, though.
“Of course it can be a bit annoying, but most of the time it’s quite funny when people don’t believe your name and want to see ID. Neither have I ever been teased with it,” says 21-year-old Gandalf Martinus Reid from Stege on Møn, who got the name because his father ”was mental about” the books.
In spite of the good hobbit Frodo shining brightly in the films, success is more difficult to obtain on the birth certificates.
“It’s probably because it’s much like “Frode”, and that’s not exciting enough,” says Michael Lerche Nielsen, who has only registered a single little Frodo in our country.
