Viking Names
Modir
The Old Norse female name Móðir is found in Motherby, Cumberland, and has been suggested as the first element in Moodersley, a minor name in Kedleston, Appletree Hundred, Derbyshire. The name Kedleston itself includes the male personal name Ketill. Móðir means literally ‘mother’ and the use of family terms as personal names (compare the use of ‘Sonny’ in English), while not frequent, is attested in Scandinavia.
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Viking Names
Skroppa
Skroppa is not recorded outside the sagas of the Icelanders but has been postulated as a female personal name which forms the first element of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. In the Saga of Hord, Skroppa is a sorceress who uses illusion and shapechanging.
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Viking Names
Gyda
Gyða appears early in Norway and is frequent there but it is not as common in Iceland. It appears in two Danish runic inscriptions and is common in other Danish sources. The name also appears in a few Swedish runic inscriptions and is found in later Swedish sources. Gyða is also attested in medieval documents from Lincolnshire and Domesday Book for Yorkshire. The name is a pet form of Gyríðr and it has been suggested that it was borrowed from England because several of the oldest carriers of the name appear to be of mixed Nordic and English origin.
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Viking Names
Gunngifu
Gunngifu is a postulated Anglo-Scandinavian hybrid female personal name formed from the very common Old Norse element Gunn- from gunnr, guðr ‘battle’ combined with the Old English element gifu ‘gift’. There is a possible attestation of the name in a medieval document from Lincolnshire.
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Viking Names
Bothild
Bóthildr, -hilda is a compound name with the first element being Bót- probably to be compared with Old Norse bót ‘remedy, improvement’. While some scholars believe this element is a loan from the continent or England, it is certain that in Scandinavia it was interpreted as bót. The second element of the name is Old Norse -hildr ‘battle’, Both forms of the name are fairly frequent in Norway after c 1300 and it is also found in place-names there. It was rare in Iceland but common in Denmark and also found in Sweden. Bóthildr, -hilda appears as the first element in the medieval field names Botildewellewong in Anston, West Yorkshire, and Botildehau in East Yorkshire. It is also possibly the first element in the field name Botilgarth in Fishlake, West Yorkshire. The name is also well-attested in medieval Yorkshire and Lincolnshire documents.
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Viking Names
Hrafnhild
Hrafnhildr is recorded in a few instances in West Scandinavia (Norway and Iceland) and in the quasi-historical Icelandic text, Landnámabók ‘The Book of Settlements’ which recounts the settlement of Iceland. It is also attested in two field names in West Yorkshire. The personal name is an Old Norse compound, formed from Hrafn- , ‘raven’, combined with -hildr, ‘battle’.
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Viking Names
Gerd
The name Gerðr was found in Iceland in the tenth century, but only possibly found in Norway in place-names. It is also found in one Danish place-name. It is is the first element in the place-name Garriston, North Yorkshire and in Getheston, a field name, in Monk Bretton, West Yorkshire. Gerðr is from the Primitive Scandinavian garðiōʀ. Perhaps it is the female equivalent of the Old Norse male personal name Garðr from Old Norse garðr ‘yard, enclosure’, but used in the older sense of ‘protection’. Gerðr occasionally appears as a form of the male personal name, Giarðarr. Many female names, such as Þorgerðr are formed with -gerðr as the second element. Gerðr also appears in Old Norse mythology as the name of the giantess with whom the god Freyr falls in love.
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Viking Names
Elli
Elli is a mythological name from Old Norse elli ‘old age’. In Snorri Sturluson’s Edda, Thor battles with Elli who here is a personification of old age in the guise of an old woman. Even the mighty Thor cannot defeat her! The name Elli may be found as an element in some West Yorkshire place-names, but it cannot actually be distinguished from the Old English male personal name Ælla or Ælli.
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Viking Names
Tola
Tóla is a short form of names such as Þorlaug. It is an East Scandinavian name (Denmark, Sweden) and appears fairly frequently in Denmark. The name is also found in several Swedish runic inscriptions. It is attested in medieval documents from Lincolnshire referencing a woman who lived in Saltfleetby.
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Viking Names
Ragnhild
The female name Ragnhildr is very common throughout the Scandinavian world, including several parts of Britain and Ireland, up to modern times. There is a suggestion that it was restricted to royalty and aristocrats in the Viking Age and then spread to other social groups. It may be the first element of the Lincolnshire place-name Raventhorpe, although in fact the earliest forms suggest the male name Ragnaldr, and more recent publications prefer this interpretation.
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Viking Names
Gudrid
Guðríðr was common in Iceland from the time of settlement (c. 870-930) onwards and is recorded in the quasi-historical Old Norse-Icelandic text Landnámabók ‘The Book of Settlements’ that recounts this period. The name was also common in Norway and is found in a Danish runic inscription and possibly appears in a Swedish place-name. Forms of Guðríðr are attested in medieval Yorkshire charters and documents. The first element of the name is Guð from guð, ‘the gods’ and is combined with the second element -(f)ríðr, related to Gothic frījōn ‘to love’ with the original meaning ‘loved’, later meaning ‘fair’.