A much loved child has many names

I recently overheard some parents deliberating pompously on how to prevent their children being nicknamed. I was instantly transported to my childhood kitchen where Mum was cooking while proclaiming that “a much loved child has many names”.  I’ve no idea what initiated the conversation or indeed how Mum adopted the phrase as it has Scandinavian origins, but my brothers and I were frequently called  “love”, “chick” or in my case, “princess” and were indeed “much loved”.  As an aside, when we were called by our given names, they were always preceded by “our”; an endearing feature of the Lancastrian dialect