The Nakonids derive their name – a modern invention – from the earliest attestable ruler of the dynasty, Nako, who fought the expansionist tendencies of the German kingdom in the mid and late 10th century before being defeated and converted to Christianity.
Besides Helmold, Adam of Bremen, Thietmar of Merseburg, and Saxo Grammaticus are important sources for Nakonid history.
The primary sources, in Latin, use the various titles regulus (subking), dux (duke), and tyrannus (tyrant or usurper) to describe them.
When Canute Lavard was granted lordship over the Obotrites in 1128 by Emperor Lothair II, he took the Slavic title knes.
The Nakonids contested supremacy of the Slavs of the Elbe and Baltic coast with the Veleti to the east and the Polani to the south.
However, the other tribes each had their own favoured divinities (Prove in Wagria, Radegast in Mecklenburg, Swantewit in Rugia) and clung to them strongly when Christianity was foisted upon them.