Experience has shown that most modern English speakers are not well up on old Scandinavian names. After Eric and Bjorn and Olaf, most of us dry up, or come up with mock fantastical German names. Here's a list of male and female names, taken from the indices of Laxdaela, Njal's and Egil's sagas. The convention is that each person follows the given name with the father's name (very occasionally the mother's), in the form of 'son' or 'dottir' (e.g. Halldor Armodsson, Helga Olafsdottir). Sometimes, according to rules I do not myself fully understand, the father's name changes a little in the patronymic form (Bolli Bollason, not Bollisson), often adding an 'ar' between the name and the 'son' suffix. I don't worry a lot about this. Many characters have interesting descriptive additions to their names - hair colour (Olaf the White, Erik the Red, Halfdan the Black), height, weight, and other characteristics (Geirmund the Noisy, Ketil Flatnose and the unbeatable Eystein Foul-Fart). Some of these descriptive forms come before the given name (Killer-Glum), but most follow. A man would only be given his father's first name if the father died before the child's birth, as with Bolli Bollason, born after his father's killing. There were a fair number of Gaelic names amongst the Icelanders (Katla, Melkorka), - though not among the Norwegians - but only Njal and Kjartan listed here are Celtic in derivation. End of lesson. MEN'S NAMES: Alf Amundi An Ari Arinbjorn Armod Arnfinn Arni Arnor Arnvid Asgrim Atli Bard Bersi Bjarni Bjorn Bolli Bork Brynjolf Egil Eilif Einar Eirik Eyjolf Eyvind losi Frodi Geir Geirmund Gellir Gilli Gizur Glum Grani Grim Gudlaug Gudmund Gunnar Hakon Hall Hallbjorn Hallkel Harald Harek Hauk Helgi Hjalti Hjort Hogni Holmstein Hoskuld Hrapp Hrut Ingiald Kari Ketil Kjartan Knut Kol Kolskegg Kvedulf Lambi Ljot Lyting Modolf Mord Njal Odd Olaf Olvir Otkel Ozur Rognvald Sigmund Sigtrygg Sigurd Skamkel Skapti Snorri Starkad Stemar Svart Svein Thostolf Thorarin Thord Thorgeir Thorgils Thorgrim Thorhall Thorkel Thorleif Thorolf Thorstein Thorvald Thrain Ulf Valgard Yngvar WOMEN'S NAMES: Alfdis Asgerd Astrid Aud Bergthora Freydis Groa Gudrid Gudrun Gunnhild Gyda Halla Hallgerd Helga Herdis Hildigunn Ingibjorg Ingunn Jorunn Olof Rannveig Sigrid Thora Thordis Thorgerd Thorhild Thorhalla Unn Vigdis More Battle Troll Battle Troll: Viking Warfare in Sagas: Introduction Battle Troll: Basic Rules Battle Troll: Optional Rules Battle Troll: Appendix 1: Hand to Hand Combat Example Battle Troll: Appendix 2: Norse Names Battle Troll: Appendix 3: Saga Categories Battle Troll: Appendix 4: Icelandic Law Battle Troll: Appendix 5: Figures, Books, and Scenery Battle Troll: Raven's Tale Scenarios Back to MWAN #99 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com