In early modern Europe the name given a child was supposed to make them like the person they were named for. In many cases the name given a child was an attempt to recreate the lost child (or ancestor). The grief the family felt over the dead child was made better by naming the child after the lost child. This shows a belief that dead spirits were present among the living. In Renaissance Italy the belief was a child was born into the identity given him or her by his family. The modern idea that a person creates their own fate did not exist in earlier times.