Updated November 2023
Across 500 pages
of 500
Icelandic from Norse
"protection of God"
A top Icelandic name in the form Guðmundur. Gummi and Gvender are common nicknames.
"eagle warrior"
A common name in Iceland, from the same origins as Arnold et al.
Baldur is a masculine name with deep roots in Norse mythology, where Baldur (also spelled Baldr or Balder) was the god of light, joy, purity, and the summer sun. The son of Odin and Frigg, he was…
Masculine variation of Björk, Icelandic
"birch tree"
One of the few masculine names derived from a feminine name, in this case, Bjork.
Icelandic variation of Alvar, German
"elf warrior"
A top name in Iceland, while its parent name Alvar, ranks highly in Sweden and Finland.
"breaker"
Popular in it's native Iceland, where Breki is almost four times as likely to be used as a middle name than as a first.
Egill is a masculine name with deep Norse roots, derived from ancient Scandinavia and particularly prominent in Icelandic culture. The name is associated with the legendary Icelandic hero and poet…
Asgeir is a masculine Norse name rooted in Old Norse elements 'áss' meaning 'god' and 'geirr' meaning 'spear'. This name has deep historical connections to Viking culture and Norse mythology, where…
Icelandic
"hawk"
The Icelandic word for "hawk" and recent addition to the Icelandic name pool. It was derived from the Old Norse word haukr , also meaning "hawk."
Anglicized variation of Eyþór, Icelandic
"thunder island"
The phonetic spelling of Eyþór, without the thorn that would trip up many English-speakers.
Gardar is a masculine name with Norse origins, derived from the Old Norse elements 'garðr' meaning 'enclosure' or 'fortress'. In Icelandic history, Garðar Svavarsson was the first Norseman to…
English, French
"saint's name"
The name of a French abbot and saint who founded several monasteries in the 8th century.
Greek
The name of a late-5th-century Patriarch of Antioch.
"wooded valley"
This was the name of a 5th-century Egyptian hermit and was later adopted by the Greek scholar Basilios Bessarion (1403-1472), who became a Roman Catholic bishop. Renowned Russian literary critic…
"resistant, holding fast"
The name of the capital city of ancient Syria, an important centre in early Christianity. Its founder Seleucus I Nictor named it after his father, Antiochus. Antiochus was the name of several early…
French, Latin
"flowering, flourishing"
An ancient and dashing princely European name, belonging to one of the Grimaldi princes of Monaco from the 18th and 19th centuries. Florestan is also a character in Ludwig van Beethoven's opera…
Germanic
"famous wealth"
An audacious sounding ancient name belonging to an 8th-century Swiss saint, an abbot of Saint Gall.
Greek, English
"plant eaten by fawns"
A beautiful plant and a rare botanical name probably deriving from Greek.
Latin
"equal night"
A dramatic nature-inspired possibility for either sex.
English, Literature
"golden king"
Borrowed or coined by J K Rowling for a vain and selfish teacher in the Harry Potter books, this dramatic name may also be a rare variant of the surname Gilroy, meaning "son of the king's servant".