NAME FORMATION
The names used by the viking age scandinavians tells us quite a lot about them and their ways, since I do not think that any peace loving people would name their little newborn daughters "Battle" or "Sword goddess" - that's what the names Hildr and Hjördís mean.
Old norse names do have a meaning, i.e. a meaning that still must have been appearant to those who used them, not a meaning that was totally unknown and irrelevant to them, as are the meanings of most modern western names. But still, some names do not make any sense. Many names are put together from two parts, and some of these composite names appear quite sensible, whereas others do not. A name like Ingvarr means "Ingr warrior", i.e. "the warrior of (the god) Ingr", and Geirhildr means "spear battle", but on the other hand there are names like Sigsteinn "victory stone" and ..., and what about Jóbjörn - "The horse bear"? What were on his parents' minds?
The ancient scandinavians didn't have last names in the modern sense. Their only real name was their first name, but since there could be a lot of people called Óláfr or Inga in the same area, something more was often needed to identify a person, and then they could either use a nickname, a patronym or a title. People did not have and use titles like in many countries today, they were just used for identification, to separate king Óláfr - Óláfr konungr - from the blacksmith Óláfr - Óláfr smiðr. Patronyms were composed from the father's name (in the genitive case) and the word for either 'son' or 'daughter', i.e. if one Óláfr was the son of Björn and one son of Ingi, they could be called Óláfr Bjarnarson and Óláfr Ingason, and if they each had a sister called Inga, they would be called Inga Bjarnardóttir and Inga Ingadóttir. Nicknames were achieved the same way as today, through some characteristic or deed.
An important remark: Gods' names were for gods only! No humans were called Þórr!
Here are some name prefixes and suffixes, that can be put together into composite names. The prefixes are (in theory) the same for both sexes, but the suffixes are either masculine (for men) or feminine (for women). NB: Names are inflected the same way as other nouns!
| Prefixes (for both men and women) |
Al- 'all'
Álf- 'elf'
Arn- 'eagle'
Ás- 'god'
Auð- 'wealth'
Björn- 'bear'
Brynj- (Bryn- before consonants) 'coat of mail'
Böð- (Böðv- before vowel) 'battle'
Ei- (also Ey-) 'always' (or a form of Ein- 'only')
Ein- (Ei- before l,r,m,n) 'one, only'
Ey- (also Ei-) 'always'
Far- 'travel'
Fast- 'steady'
Frey- 'Frey' (a god)
Frið- 'peace' | Geir- 'spear'
Grím- '...'
Gunn- 'battle'
Há- 'high'
Há- (see Höð-)
Hall- 'hall'
Har- (see Her-)
Her- (also Har-) (Herj- before vowel) 'army'
Hjalm- 'helmet'
Hjör- 'sword'
Hloð- 'fame, glory'
Holm- 'islet'
Hring- 'ring'
Hróð- (Hró- before r and l) 'glory'
Höð- (also Há-) 'battle'
Ing- (also Ingi-) 'Ingr' (a god)
Ingi- (Ingv- or Yngv- before vowel) 'Ingr' (a god)
Jó- 'horse'
Jór- 'boar' | Jöfur- 'boar'
Ketil- 'kettle'
Odd- 'point, tip'
Óðin- 'Óðinn' (the god Oden)
Ótt- 'fear'
Ragn- 'power'
Rand- 'shield edge'
Sig- 'victory'
Skjöld- 'shield'
Svan- 'swan'
Þjóð- 'people'
Þór- or Þor- 'Þórr' (the god Thor)
Úlf- 'wolf'
Vé- 'holy'
Víg- 'battle'
Yngv- (see Ing-)
Öl- 'ale' |
| Masculine suffixes | Feminine suffixes |
-aldr (see -valdr)
-álfr 'elf' masc. a-st.
-arr (also -varr) (from proto-norse -harjaR or -warjaR 'warrior') masc. a-st.
-arr (see -geirr)
-björn 'bear' masc. u-st.
-fúss 'eager' masc. a-st.
-gautr 'geat' masc. a-st.
-geirr 'spear' masc. a-st.
-gísl '...' masc. a-st.
-hvatr 'brave' masc. a-st.
-kell (see -ketill)
-ketill (also -kell) masc. a-st. ; syncopated in dat. - Katli
-láfr (see -leifr)
-lákr (see -leikr)
-laugr '...' masc. a-st.
-leifr (also -láfr) 'heir' masc. a-st.
-leikr (also -lákr) '...' masc. a-st.
-marr 'famous' masc. a-st.
-móðr '...' masc. a-st. ; gen. -ar
-mundr 'power' masc. a-st. ; gen. -ar
-olfr (see -ulfr)
-rekr (see ríkr)
-ráðr '...' mask. a-st.
-ríkr (also -rekr) 'mighty' mask. a-st.
-steinn 'stone' masc. a-st.
-sveinn 'boy, servant' masc. a-st.
-tryggr 'faithful' masc. wa-st.
-þér 'servant' masc. a-st.
-ulfr (also -olfr) 'wulf'
-unn (see -vinr)
-urðr (see -verðr)
-valdr (-aldr after vowels) 'ruler, chief' masc. a-st.
-varðr (see -verðr)
-varr (also -arr) (from proto-norse -warjaR 'warrior') masc. a-st.
-vér 'warrior' masc. a-st. ; (no ending in dat.)
-verðr (also -varðr or -urðr) 'guardian, keeper'
-vinr (also -unn) 'friend' | -björg (also -borg) 'salvation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-borg (also -biörg) 'salvation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-dís 'goddess' fem. iô-st.
-eiðr (see -heiðr)
-elfr 'female elf' fem. iô-st.
-fríðr 'beautiful' fem. iô-st.
-gerðr 'field' fem. iô-st.
-guðr (stem -gunn-) fem. iô-st.
-heiðr (or -eiðr after consonant) 'heath' fem. iô-st.
-hildr (or -ildr after consonant) 'battle' fem. iô-st.
-hvít 'white' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-ildr (see -hildr)
-laug '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-leif 'heiress' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-löð 'invitation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-ríðr '...' fem. iô-st.
-rún 'secret, rune' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-þrúðr 'power' fem. iô-st.
-uðr (stem -unn-) (also -unn) 'loved' fem. iô-st.
-unn (also -uðr) 'loved' fem. iô-st.
-vé '...'
-veig '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u
-vör '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u |
In theory any prefix goes with any suffix. Such composite names can have rather strange meanings, but that does not appear to be a problem. Still, all combinations of prefix and suffix do not occur.
When the first and the second part of the composite names meet each other some assimilations occur. In some of the names sound changes have distorted the form of the parts so that they are difficult to identify, and sometimes those changes occured already in the proto-norse language. Since this site is primarily about old norse the historical explanations are at the bottom of the page for those who are interested.
Here are some examples of composite names, and, if necessary, what parts they consist of. Their inflection is of course the same as that of their suffixes.
| Men's names |
|
| | Alrekr |
| | Arnbjörn/Ambjörn | = Arn- + -björn |
|
| | Arngeirr |
| | Arngrímr | | Ásbjörn | | Ásgautr | | Ásgeirr | | Áskell | | Ásmundr | | Ásvaldr | | Auðunn | | Bárðr | = böð + verðr ? | | Brynjolfr |
| | Eiláfr | = Ein- + -leifr/-láfr | | Einarr | = Ein- + -arr |
|
| | Eiríkr/Eirekr | = Ein- + -ríkr | | Eyjolfr |
| | Eysteinn | | Eyvindr |
| | Freysteinn |
|
| | Föstulfr | | Geirmundr |
|
| | Guðlaugr/Gullaugr | | Guðmundr |
|
| | Gunnarr |
|
|
|
|
|
| | Hálfr | = Höð- + -ulfr | | Hallvarðr | | Haraldr | = Her- + -valdr | | Hávarðr |
|
|
| | Herjolfr | = Her- + -ulfr | | Hervarðr | | Hjörleifr | | Hjörvarðr | | Hloðvér | = Hloð- + -vér | | Hróaldr | = Hróð- + -valdr |
|
| | Hróðgeirr/Hróarr | = Hróð- + -geirr/-(g)arr |
| | Hrólfr | = Hróð- + -ulfr | | Hrollaugr | = Hróð- + -laugr | | Hrómundr | = Hróð- + -mundr |
|
| | Hrœrekr | = Hróð- + -ríkr |
|
| | | Ífarr | = Ing- + -arr |
|
|
|
| | Ingimarr | | Ingjaldr | = Ingi- + -waldr | | Óláfr/Óleifr | = Ön- + -leifr/-láfr |
|
|
|
| | Óláfr | = Ön- + -leifr | | Óleifr | = Ön- + -leifr | | Óttarr | = Ótt- + -arr |
|
| | Ragnarr | | Rögnvaldr | | Randvér | | Sigfúss |
| | Siggeirr | | Sighvatr |
| | Sigmundr | | Sigsteinn | | Sigtryggr | | Sigurðr/Sigvarðr | | Styrbjörn | = Styr- 'kaos' + -björn | | Þóraldr | | Þorarr/Þorgeirr | = Þór- + -geirr | | Þorbjörn | | Þórðr/Þorvarðr | = Þór- + -geirr | | Þorgeirr/Þórarr | = Þór- + -geirr | | Þorgísl/Þorgils | | Þorgrímr |
| | Þorkell |
|
| | Þorlákr | | Þorleifr | | Þormóðr |
|
|
|
| | Þorolfr | = Þór- + -ulfr | | Þorsteinn |
| | Þorvalðr/Þoraldr | | Þorvarðr/Þórðr | = Þór- + -verðr |
|
| | Vígfúss |
|
|
| | Yngvarr | = Ing- + -arr |
|
|
|
| | Øyvindr |
|
|
| | Önundr |
|
|
| |
| Women's names |
|
| | Álfhildr | | Álöf | = Ön- + -leif | | Arnfríðr |
|
|
| | Ásleif | | Áslaug | | Ástríðr | = Ás- + -fríðr |
|
|
|
|
|
| | Geirþrúðr |
|
| | Guðrún |
|
| | Gunnhildr | | Gunnlöð | | Gunnvör |
|
|
|
| | Gýríðr/Guðríðr | = Guð- + -fríðr |
|
|
|
| | Hervör | | Hjördís |
|
|
|
|
| | Holmfríðr |
| |
|
| | Ingibjörg | | Ingigerðr |
|
| | Jófríðr | | Ólof/Ólöf | = Ön- + -leif | | Ragnfríðr |
| | Ragnheiðr |
| | Ragnhildr | | Sigríðr | = Sig- + -fríðr | | Sigþrúðr |
|
|
| | Svanhvít | | Þordís | | Þorelfr |
|
| | Þorgerðr | | Þorguðr/Þorgunnr | | Þórunn |
| | Þuríðr | = Þór- + -fríðr |
|
|
|
| |
There are also single names. Some of them are identical with the suffixes above, others are derived from nouns, verbs or adjectives. Here are some such names. Their inflexion
| Men's names |
|
| | Bjarni | masc. an-st., from björn 'bear' | | Björn | 'bear' masc. u-st. |
|
| | Fasti | 'the steady one' (fastr) masc. an-st. | | Grímr | masc. a-st. | | Helgi | 'the holy one' (heilagr) masc. an-st. |
|
| | Hrafn | 'raven' masc. a-st. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| | Ingi | masc. an-st., from Ing- | | Karl | 'man' masc. a-st. | | Ketill | 'kettle' masc. a-st. |
|
| | Oddr | 'point, tip' masc. a-st. | | Ormr | 'snake' masc. a-st. | | Steinn | 'stone' masc. a-st. | | Sveinn | 'young man' masc. a-st. | | Tryggvi | 'the faithful one' (tryggr) masc. an-st. |
|
| | Þórir | masc. ia-st., from Þórr | | Ulfr | 'wolf' masc. a-st. | | Yngvi | masc. an-st., from Ingr |
|
| |
| Women's names |
| Ása | fem. ôn-st., from áss | | Auðr | 'wealth' fem. iô-st. | | Fríðr | 'the beautiful one' (fríðr) fem. iô-st. | | Gunnr/Guðr | 'battle' fem. iô-st. | | Helga | 'the holy one' (heilagr) fem. ôn-st. | | Hildr | 'battle' fem. iô-st. |
|
|
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| |
|
|
|
| | Inga | fem. ôn-st., from Ing- |
|
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| | Þóra | fem. ôn-st., from Þórr |
|
| | Ylfa | fem. ôn-st., from ulfr | | Æsa | fem. ôn-st., from áss | |
If you want even more names, you can find all the names in the icelandic Landnámabók here, and download a list of all the names in runic inscriptions here.
© Peter Pettersson 
Entradas
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