Old Norse Names for Boys

Cool thing is that in the Viking Age, no children were named after Odin or Thor. If they had done so, it would have been regarded as an insult to their gods. However, there were many variations of "Thor" which were very popular in the Viking Age. Today, naming a child after a god is acceptable and it is among the ways to honor a long-gone culture. This blog post is going to give you some of the Old Norse Names for boys. Remember that the list isn't sufficient and all names are written in the English forms which still remains the same meaning. 

A list of Old Norse Names for Girls HERE on BaviPower

A

Aasgeir: As means god and geirr means spear or javelin

Agmund: Agn means respect or tips of the sword and mundr means protector. 

Agnar: Agn means respect and arr means warrior

Arn: eagle

Arnfinn: Arn means eagle and Finnr means a Finn

Arni: same as Arn

Arnljot: Arn means eagle and ljotr means shining light

Arnstein: Arn means eagle and steinn means stone

Arnulf: Arn means eagle and ulfr means wolf

Audbjorn: Audr means wealth and bjorn means bear

Audun: Audr means wealth and vin means friend

B

Bjorn: the big brown animal or bear

Bogi: the bow

Bragi: A Viking god Bragi who entertained the Viking warriors in Valhalla on behalf of his father, Odin. 

Brynjulf: Brynj means breastplate and ulfr means wolf

C

None

D

Dagfinn: Dagr means day and Finnr means a Finn

Dreng

Dyri

E

Egil: Egg means sharp side, a blade or an awe. Other variations Eigil

Eric: like Eirik with EI meaning always and rikr meaning ruler

Erik: same as Eric

Erlend: Erlendr means foreigner

Erling: the descendant of the Earl

Eystein: Ey means happiness and steinn means stone

F

Finn

Freyr: Viking god Freyr God of Summer and sunshine

Frodi: Frodr means the wise or the scholar

G

Geir: Geirr means spear or javelin

Gisli: Gisl means hostage or the handle of the javelin

Gorm: a variation of Guttorm with gud means god and tormr means to protect

Gunnar: Gunnr means fight and arr means worrior

Gunnbjorn

Gunnvard: Gunnr means war or warfare and valdr means leader or ruler

Guttorm: Gud means god and tormr means to protect or do honor

H

Haakon: Har means a prominent person and konr means family

Haavard: Ha means tall, horse, or combat and vard means the guardian

Halfdan: Halfr means half and danr means Danish

Harald: Har means army and vald means prince

Hauk: Haukr means hawk

Herbjorn: Her means army and bjorn means the big brown animal or bear

Hermod: Her means army and modr means courage

Hogni: to protect

I

Ingar

Ingebjorn

Ingvard

Ivar: Yr means a coniferous tree and arr means worrier

Iver

J

Joar: Jo means horse and arr means warrior

Jogeir

Jostein: Jo means horse and steinn means stone

K

Kaarbjorn

Kaare: Karr means curly hair

Ketil: Ketil means the offering bowl which later means the helmet. A ketil was used in the Viking age to gather the blood from the sacrificed animals. A variation of Ketil was Kjetil

Knut: Knutr means a knot

Kolbjorn

Kolfinn

Kolstein

L

Leidolv

Leidulf

Leif: Leif means property and inheritance. Another variation is Leif

M

Magnar

Magni: Magn means power and strength. Magni was also Thor's son in Norse saga where Magni was the strongest god in Norse Pantheon

N

Narfi: narrow

Narvi: same as Narfi

Nottolv

O

Olaf: Olafr means ancestor or inheritance

Olav: same as Olaf

Odd: Oddr means tip of a blade

Oddbjorn

Oddgeir

Oddvar

Odin: Viking Supreme God Odin

Olbjorn

Olgeir

P

None

Q

None

R

Ragnar: Ragn means advice or recommendation and arr means warrior. Another definition for this word is God. Because the way we interpret Ragnarok is The twilight of Gods with rokk means twilight. So Ragnar can be interpreted as God or the ruling powers. 

Ragnvald: Ragn means advice or recommendation and valdr means ruler or leader

Reidar: Hreid means house or home while arr means warrior

Rolf: Rod means honour and ulfr means wolf

Rolleiv

Runi: runn means secret, like rune the magical Viking alphabet

S

Sigbjorn

Sigfred

Sigurd: Sigr means victory and vard means guardian

Sigvald

Snorri: Snurre means the unruly one

Solmund

Stein: Steinn means stone

Steinar: Steinn means stone and arr means warrior

Steinbjorn

Steingrim

Svein: Sveinn means a boy or a young man

Sverre: Sverre means restless or wild

Sverri: same as Sverre

Saebjorn

Saemund

T

Tjodolf

Tjoldolv

Tjodrek

Tjodrik

Toki

Thor: Viking god of thunder and lightning Thor

Thoralf

Thoralv

Thorbjorn

Thorfinn

Thorgeir: Thorr means thunder, lightning and geirr means spear

Thorstein

Thorvald

Tryggvi: Tryggr means the trustworthy one

U

Ulf: Ulfr means wolf

Ulv: same as Ulf

V

Vebjorn: Ve means home and Bjorn means the big brown animal or bear

Vegard: Ve means home and gardr means fence or protection

Vidar: Viking god Vidar who was the son of Odin and took revenge for his father's death in Ragnarok. 

Vigbjorn

Volund

W

None

X

None

Y

Yngvi: Viking god Yngvi who was also Freyr Viking God of Summer and Sunshine

Z

None