Viking Names
Eindridi
The Old Norse male name Eindriði is mainly found in Norway. It is the first element of Enderby (now divided into Bag Enderby, Mavis Enderby and Wood Enderby) and possibly Anderby, both in Lincolnshire. There is also an Enderby in Leicestershire.
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Viking Names
Skalli
Skalli an original byname meaning ‘bald-head’. It is recorded in Western Scandinavian mythology as the name of a giant, it is fairly common as a byname in Norway and Iceland. A few instances are recorded in runic inscriptions in Sweden and in Danish place-names. Skalli is the first element in Scawby, Lincolnshire, as well in several other place-names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire
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Viking Names
Sibbi
Sibbi is originally a short form of the Old Norse male personal Sigbjǫrn. As an independent name it is common in Sweden and fairly frequent in Denmark, and is recorded in a number of runic inscriptions. Sibbi is potentially the first element in the place-name Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire.
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Viking Names
Eileif
The Old Norse male personal name Eiláfr/Eileifr is not always to be distinguished from another Old Norse male personal name Eilífr. This is evident in the place-name Elston, Nottinghamshire where the first element is either Eiláfr or perhaps Eilífr. Eiláfr/Eileifr is an Old Norse compound name with the first element being either Ei- ‘always’ or Ein- ‘one, alone, single’ combined with the second element -leifr/-láfr ‘inheritance’ which when used in a personal name likely has the sense of ‘son’. This name was frequently used throughout medieval Scandinavia and is attested in Danish place-names and runic inscription, Swedish runic inscriptions, and became common in Norway after 1270. The name occurs in Domesday Book, and later medieval documents, for both Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
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Viking Names
Saxulf
Saxulfr is an Old Norse compound of Sax-, from either Old Norse sax ‘short sword’ or Saxar the masculine plural of ‘Saxons’, and –ulfr ‘wolf’. The mutated form Sǫxulfr appears early in West Scandinavia, but it is not very common. It is found in one Norwegian place-name, a couple of place-names in Sweden, and a number of place-names in Denmark. Saxulfr is also likely the first element of the place-name Saxilby, Lincolnshire.
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Viking Names
Thorfast
Þorfastr is a common male name in the eastern part of the Viking world – it is common in Swedish runic inscriptions and is even found in the inscription on a rune-stone fragment found in Finland, as well as a couple of Danish ones, but it does not occur in any Norwegian or Icelandic texts. It can be found in the runic inscription on the Lincoln comb-case.
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Viking Names
Gaut
Gautr and the related Gauti are short forms of names in Gaut- or -gautr, or an original byname meaning ‘man from Gautland’. This region comprises the provinces now known as Östergötland and Västergötland in southern Sweden, and is the homeland of the Geats in the Old English poem Beowulf. Gautr is recorded in several Swedish and Norwegian runic inscriptions and is also the name of a rune-carver in the Isle of Man. The name appears in two inscriptions there; on the runic cross from Kirk Michael it is (boastfully but erroneously) claimed that ‘Gautr made this and all in Man’.
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Viking Names
Bui
An original byname Búi, from búa ‘to dwell’, was found in Norway and Iceland as a personal name and byname, but is rare there. In the form Bōi, later Bo, it is very common in Denmark and Sweden, where it appears in several runic inscriptions as bui and is found in the Latin forms Boecius and Boetius. It is possibly found in three Normandy place-names and it is potentially the first element in Boothorpe, Leicestershire.
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Viking Names
Hroald
Hróaldr was a common name throughout Viking Age Scandinavia, appearing in a few Swedish and Danish runic inscriptions. The name is used in modern Scandinavian today as Roald which was given the famous British children’s author Roald Dahl by his parents who were Norwegian immigrants to Wales. The personal name also appears as the first element in the place-name Rolleston, Nottinghamshire.
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Viking Names
Gunni
Gunni is a short form of Old Norse personal names in Gunn– from Old Norse gunnr, guðr ‘battle’. The personal name is very common throughout areas of the Viking diaspora and occurs in several place-names including three in Normandy. Gunni is also found in Danish and Swedish runic inscriptions. Gunni is the first element in three Lincolnshire place-names: Gunness, Gunby, and Gunthorpe.
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Viking Names
Tofi
The name Tófi is very common in the Viking Age, though mostly in Sweden and Denmark. It forms the first element of the hybrid place-name Toton, Nottinghamshire.