Since there’s a lot of misconception about Old Norse names and their meaning, I have developed a very simple name generator that will generate five random names from medieval Scandinavia from a rather vast database. All you have to do is select gender and click generate.

You can use it for anything you want, whether it’s just for inspiration, games, videos, etc. The names and their meaning have been properly checked and double-checked, so while the generator spills five random names, every name and its meaning is legit and verified.

Before you proceed, there are some things you should know about Old Norse names and my generator:

• The generator produces first names only.
• The names are generated randomly from a database containing hundreds of names and one name can sometimes appear twice.
• The generator uses one variant (Latinized) of each name, but each name can be written differently, depending on the geographical part of Scandinavia. For example, Randulf is a Latinized variant of the Old Norse name Rannúlfr.

What About Last Names?

Last names (surnames) in medieval Scandinavia were not directly inherited from fathers and ancestors like we see today, but were rather formed by father’s or mother’s names, specifically by putting it in the possessive (genitive) style and attaching the word "sonr/sen/son" (son) or " dóttir /dotter/datter/" (daughter) to the end.

Note: The mother’s first name was rarely used, usually only in instances when the father died before the child was born, or if the father was not an active presence in the child’s life.

To put it simply, this patronymic (and occasionally matronymic) naming system works by adding the natural father’s first name and one of the suffixes (-sonr/-dóttir) depending on the person’s gender.

Examples:

• If the father’s first name was Ragnar and he had a son named Randulf (Rannúlfr), then the son’s name would be Randulf Ragnarsonr.
• If the father’s first name was Bjorn (Björn) and he had a daughter named Sigrid (Sigríðr), then the daughter’s name would be Sigrid Bjorndóttir.
• If the father died before the child was born and the mother’s first name was Astrid and she had a son named Halfdan (Halfdanr), then the son’s name would be Halfdan Astridsonr.

What About Nicknames?

While patronymic naming was the most popular system in medieval Scandinavia, it wasn’t the only way to get a last name. Sometimes, Old Norsemen took surnames based on their looks or habits others gave them.

A great example of this is the name Ragnar Lothbrok. Lothbrok in Old Norse means "Hairy Pants" or "Shaggy Pants” and Ragnar received this nickname from his friends and family members because he wore such pants to protect himself from snake venom. A more legendary tale is that he fought a giant, near-mythological serpent who couldn’t bite him because of his shaggy pants.

In Conclusion

Now that you are armed with the knowledge from above, have fun generating your Old Norse name. 😊