Cool female Viking names and their meanings

Viking names for girls are pretty popular right now, and if you want to give your newborn daughter a strong feisty name, a female Viking name could be a great choice.

Good female Viking names tend to suggest independence and strength as well as intelligence, and who wouldn’t those traits for their baby girl?

We’ve researched some cool female Viking names and their meanings, to give you a hand with choosing some good strong female Viking names for your newborn.

Oh, and if you’re worried that choosing a Viking-inspired name for your daughter is uncool or a little over the top, there’s really no need. The most recent official statistics show that Viking-inspired names like Astrid, Freja and Lilly are still among the most popular for newborn girls in Sweden.

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Popular Viking names for girls (and their meanings)

We’ve picked out some of favourite female Viking names and looked into what they mean and where they come from.

So, if you like the idea of a strong name for your newborn daughter and want to know what it means, here are our top 25 favourite Viking names for girls.

Åse

Pronounced ‘Or-seh’, the name Åse comes from the Old Norse meaning ”god-like” or “goddess”.

Astrid

Astrid was a popular name in Viking times and is still in widespread use today.

It’s a favourite name amongst Scandinavian royalty, which included Princess Astrid of Sweden, who went onto become Queen of Belgium, and Princess Astrid of Norway.

The name Astrid means “divinely beautiful”, though some sources suggest that it comes from the Old Norse for “godly strength”.

Bodil

If you want your daughter to grow up a strong leader, why not name her Bodil?

It’s a pretty Norse name which means “commander”, “battle” or “fighting woman”.

Variations include Bothild (see below) and Botilda.

Bothild

A variation of Bodil, Bothild is an Old Norse name that combines the words bot meaning “remedy” and hildr, meaning “battle”.

It generally taken to mean someone who helps heal people in a battle, so we think that makes it a good choice for a prospective doctor or nurse!

Drifa

The name Drifa comes from the Old Norse word drífa, meaning “snowfall” or “snowdrift”. A pretty name for a girl born in mid-winter perhaps?

In Norse mythology, Drífa was the daughter of king Snær. She had two sisters, Mjǫll and Fǫnn, and one brother, Þorri.

Freya

In Norse mythology, Freya was one of most important of the Norse goddesses, and the wife of Odr.

Some sources suggest that Odr was, in fact, Odin and Freya was his wife Frigg – though ‘Frigg’ is a much less appealing girls’ name for English speakers!

Either way, Freya was the goddess of fertility, beauty, love and war, and the name Freya means “lady”.

Frida

Written Fríða in Scandinavian, the name Frida means “peace”.

Famous Fridas include Swedish singer Frida Lyngstad from Abba and the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

Gertrud

Popular throughout the Nordic countries, Gertrud (or Gertrude) is an Old Norse name which means “spear” or “strength”. In Norse mythology, Gertrud was a goddess who turns into a bird and, of course, Shakespeare named Hamlet’s mother Gertrude.

There were also two saints called Gertrude – Gertrude the Great, who was known for her kindness and gentleness as well as being the patron saint of travellers and gardeners, while Saint Gertude was the patron saint of cats.

Gudrun

The popular Scandinavian name Gudrun derives from the Old Norse words guð meaning “god” and rūn meaning “rune” or “secret lore”. In Norse mythology, Gudrun was a feisty heroine, whose life was anything but quiet!

Originally the wife of the war hero Sigurd, she was then married to Atil, also known as Atila the Hun, after Sigurd’s death.

She subsequently murdered Atil in revenge because he had killed her brothers. You don’t want to mess with a Gudrun!

Gunhild

The name Gunhild (or Gunnhild) comes for the Old Norse name Gunnhildr, which means “fight” or “battle”. It’s a variation on the name Hilda (see below).

The popularity of the name Gunnhild may be due to her appearance as one of shield maidens, or Valkyries, in the TV series The Vikings.

Helga

Helga comes from the Old Norse word heilagr meaning “holy”, “blessed”, “sacred” or “divine woman”.

In Norse mythology, Hel (a diminutive of Helga) presided over the underworld, while in the TV show Vikings, Helga is the wife of Floki.

Hilda

Meaning “the fighter”, “battle woman” or “ready for battle”, Hilda is certainly not a name for a shrinking violet.

Coming from the Old Norse word hildr, which means “battle”, it’s a name that the Vikings traditionally gave to girls to give them strength and protection in life.

It’s also the name of a saint, Hilda of Whitby, who was the founder and abbesses of Whitby Abbey in the seventh century.

Hjordis

Hjordis derives from the Old Norse name Hjǫrdís, which means “sword goddess”. It comes from the words hjǫrr meaning “sword” and dís “goddess”.

In Norse mythology Hjordis is the wife of Sigmund, and the mother of Sigurd. The name is mentioned in the medieval Icelandic literary works, Prose Edda and Poetic Edda.

Ingrid

Ingrid comes from the Old Norse name Ingiríðr, which means “beautiful goddess”. In Norse mythology, Ing was another name for Freya, the goddess of fertility and beauty.

It’s apt then that the best known Ingrids, Swedish film star Ingrid Bergman, was commonly considered to be one of the world’s most beautiful women.

Liv

The name Liv comes form the Old Norse word hlíf, which means “shelter” or “protection”. In modern Nordic countries, it has also come to mean “life”. The best-known contemporary Liv is Norwegian actress and film director Liv Ullmann, or Lord of the Rings star Liv Tyler.

Olga

The Old Norse name Olga is of Scandinavian origin and means “blessed” and “successful”. Now in common use in Russia and the Slavic states, its best-known namesake is Olga Korbut, the Russian Olympic gymnast.

Randi

There are several different possibilities for the origins and meaning of the name Randi.

Some sources suggest that it derives from the Old Norse name Ragnfríðr, which means “loved by god”, while others claim it’s a combination of the Norse words regin meaning “advice or counsel” and fríðr, meaning “beautiful”.

Other sources say that it means “shield or shrine”. Take your pick!

Saga 

The name Saga means “seeing one” and suggests a mystical ability to predict the future. It comes from the Old Norse word sjá which means “to see”.

In Norse mythology, Saga is the goddess of prophecy and wisdom, while the best-known contemporary Saga is Saga Norén, the detective from the Scandi-crime drama The Bridge.

Sigrid

Sigrid is another name of Viking origin that has several different meanings. Some sources suggest that it means “victory” or “victorious horsewoman”, while others have the definition as “wisdom and beauty”.

Its recent popularity as a name could well be down to Norwegian singer/songwriter Sigrid.

Sif

The name Sif comes from the Old Norse word sif, meaning “wife or bride”. In Norse mythology, Sif was the golden-haired goddess of the earth and fertility, and the wife of Thor.

Solveig

This old Norse name means “Lady or strength of a house” or “daughter of the sun”. Some people translate it as being strong and in charge of the home, others as being a home-lover. Take your pick!

Either way, Solveig is the heroine of Ibsen’s play, Peer Gynt.

Ulfhild

This pretty Nordic name derives from a combination of the Viking words ulf, which means “wolf” and hildr, meaning “battle” or “struggle”.

Tove

The name Tove comes for the Old Norse name Tófa, meaning “beautiful Thor”. Other sources, however, suggest that it means “dove”.

Inspirational females named Tove include the creator of the Moomintrolls, Finnish author Tove Jansson, and the Swedish singer Tove Lo.

Thyra

The origins of the name Thyra are unclear. Some sources suggest that it means “thunder warrior’ from the Old Norse words þórr, meaning “thunder” and víg, meaning “fight or battle”, while others claim that it means “devoted to Thor” or  “helpful”.

Either way, the real life Thyra was a Danish queen from the eighth century.

Ursa

The Nordic name Ursa is a diminutive of the popular female name Ursula and and means “female bear” or “wild”.

Famous women with Viking names

You may be surprised by the influence of Viking names and how many famous women have names derived from Viking origins.

Astrid is probably the most common Viking name among famous people. As well as being popular with Scandinavian royalty (see above), other famous Astrids include the Norwegian singer Astrid S and the Swedish author of the much-loved Pippi Longstocking books, Astrid Lindgren.

A diminutive of the name Margarite, the Viking name Grethe means “pearl”. A variation of it is Greta, whose most famous namesakes are the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and the US actor/director Greta Gerwig.

Lilja is another Viking name meaning “flower”, whose variation Lily has been adopted by several well-known women.

Famous Lillys include the singer Lily Allen, the comedian Lily Tomlin and the actresses Lily James and Lily Collins.

Viking name generator

If you fancy having a bit of fun, check out our female Viking names generator, which will generate some random Viking names based on your real name (or someone else’s) to give you further inspiration.

100 female Viking names (A-Z)

Still looking for inspiration? Here’s a list of 100 fun and feisty female Viking names that you can pick from.

Top 10 female Viking dog names

Picking a Viking name for the four-legged lady in your life? Here are some fun female Viking names for your dog, along with their meanings. These names all come from Viking words and we reckon they’d suit a feisty female dog just perfectly.

See also:
Norse names and their meanings
The most popular Swedish boys’ names
The best Finnish girls names
Cool Swedish girl names and their meanings