You’ve seen them on screen. Fierce women with shaved temples and elaborate braids, wielding axes that look way too heavy for a human to swing, shouting names that sound like thunder. But honestly? Most of those "badass" monikers are just modern inventions. If you're looking for real female Viking warrior names, you have to dig through a messy pile of Old Norse poetry, burial mound excavations, and sagas that were written hundreds of years after the last longship sailed.
History is loud. It's also incredibly confusing.
The truth is that the Norse didn't really have a specific "warrior" category for names. A name was a prayer, a family legacy, or a bit of magic. When we talk about shield-maidens (skjaldmær), we are dancing on the line between archaeology and mythology. Some people think they were everywhere. Others think they were just literary metaphors for "trouble." Somewhere in the middle lies the reality of women like the Birka warrior, buried with a sword and two horses, whose name we will never actually know because DNA doesn't come with a birth certificate.
Where Female Viking Warrior Names Actually Come From
Names in the Viking Age weren't just labels. They were modular. Think of them like LEGO bricks made of iron and blood. Most female names were dithematic, meaning they combined two different words to create a new meaning. You’d take a prefix like Borg (help/fortress) and slap it onto hildr (battle).
Boom. Borghild.
The "Battle" Obsession
A huge chunk of authentic names incorporate the word hildr. It’s everywhere. You have Brynhildr, which translates to "Armor Battle." Then there’s Gunnhildr, which is basically "War Battle." It sounds repetitive to us, but to a Norse parent in the 9th century, it was a way of layering protection onto a daughter. It wasn't necessarily because they expected her to go raid Lindisfarne; it was because life was violent and you wanted your kid to have the spirit of a fighter just to survive a cold winter.
Divine Names
Then you have the Ás names. This refers to the Æsir, the primary tribe of gods like Odin and Thor. Áshildr (God Battle) or Ástríðr (God Beautiful/Beloved) were incredibly common. These names weren't just for show. They were meant to tether the child to the divine. If you’re naming a girl Thorunn (Thor’s Love) or Thorbjörg (Thor’s Protection), you’re asking the god of thunder to keep a literal eye on her.
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It's kinda cool when you think about it. Every time someone called her for dinner, they were invoking a deity.
The Shield-Maiden Myth vs. Reality
We can't talk about these names without mentioning the Volsunga Saga or the works of Saxo Grammaticus. Saxo was a Danish historian who wrote about women like Lagertha and Rusla. Lagertha is a fan favorite now, thanks to Vikings, but her name is likely a Latinized version of the Old Norse Hlaðgerðr.
Hlaðgerðr. Say that three times fast.
It means something along the lines of "Lace Guard" or "Structure Protector." Not exactly "Blood-Soaked Axe Queen," right? But that’s the nuance of the era. A woman’s power was often rooted in the management of the estate—the tún—which was a massive responsibility. If the men were away in England or France for three years, the woman with the "Protector" name was the one holding the keys, the sword, and the legal authority.
Surnames Don't Exist
Forget "Lagertha Lothbrok." That isn't how it worked. There were no family surnames in the Viking Age. You were a "daughter of" (dóttir). So, if your dad was Erik, you were Sigrid Eriksdóttir. If you see a "Viking" name online that looks like a modern last name, it’s probably fake.
15 Authentic Names for the Modern Shield-Maiden
If you're looking for inspiration that is actually grounded in Old Norse linguistics and saga tradition, here is a list that avoids the "Wolf-Alpha-Queen" tropes of the internet.
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- Hervör: This is a heavy hitter. In the Hervarar saga, Hervör dresses as a man, claims the cursed sword Tyrfing from her father’s ghost, and leads a fleet. Her name means "Army Guard."
- Sigrid: Derived from Sigríðr. Sigr (victory) and fríðr (beautiful). It was the name of Sigrid the Haughty, a queen who reportedly burned her suitors alive because they were annoying her.
- Freydís: Everyone knows Freydís Eiríksdóttir. Whether she was a hero or a villain depends on which saga you read (Greenlanders vs. Erik the Red), but her name—"Lady of Freyja"—is undeniably powerful.
- Hildigunnr: "Battle-War." Double the violence, double the status.
- Gudrun: Guðrún. "God’s Secret" or "God’s Rune." She is the central tragic figure of the Poetic Edda.
- Svanhildr: "Swan Battle." The Norse loved animal imagery.
- Arnbjörg: "Eagle Protection."
- Vigdís: "War Goddess." This name is still popular in Iceland today.
- Tófa: A shortened version of Thorfrithr. Simple, punchy, and authentic.
- Borgný: "New Fortress."
- Signy: "New Victory."
- Hallgerðr: "Rock Protection." A famous, if polarizing, figure from Njáls saga.
- Ragnhildr: "Counsel in Battle." This suggests a leader or a strategist, not just a brawler.
- Bergljót: "Light of Protection."
- Solveig: "The Strong House" or "Sun Way."
The Valkyrie Influence
Sometimes, the line between a human warrior and a supernatural one is invisible. Names like Sigrún (Victory Rune) or Kára (The Stormy One) show up in the poems as Valkyries who choose who lives and dies on the battlefield.
Historians like Neil Price, author of The Children of Ash and Elm, argue that the Viking world-view didn't have the same rigid gender binaries we have today. If a woman had the "spirit" of a warrior, she was often given a name to match, or her deeds eventually rewrote the meaning of her name in the local community’s memory.
But be careful. Just because a name sounds "Viking" doesn't mean it is. I see people using "Astrid" a lot—which is great—but they often miss the "i" or the "r" at the end that makes it historically accurate for the 10th century. If you want to be a purist, look for the nominative endings.
Why Meaning Matters More Than Sound
In Old Norse culture, a name was a hamr—a skin or a shape. It was thought to carry the luck (hamingja) of ancestors. If you named your daughter after a fierce aunt or a legendary queen, you were literally giving her that woman’s luck.
This is why you see so many "Sig-" (Victory) names. Life was precarious. Infant mortality was high. Conflict was constant. You didn't name your kid something "cute." You named them something that sounded like a shield clashing against a spear because you wanted them to survive the week.
Avoiding the "Cringe" Tropes
If you're naming a character or even a pet, stay away from "Shadow," "Raven," or "Wolf" combined with English words. A real Viking wouldn't be named "Raven-Shadow." They would be named Arnfinnr or Ylva.
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Ylva is a great example. It simply means "She-wolf." It’s ancient, it’s short, and it’s terrifyingly elegant. Úlfhildr (Wolf Battle) is another one that carries that weight without sounding like a username from a 2004 forum.
Putting This Into Practice
When choosing or studying these names, look at the two parts of the word.
- Prefixes to look for: Sig- (Victory), Arn- (Eagle), Björg- (Help), Gunn- (War), Ketil- (Cauldron/Helmet).
- Suffixes to look for: -hildr (Battle), -dís (Goddess/Lady), -rún (Secret), -finna (Sami/Finder), -ný (New).
Mix and match. That’s essentially what the Vikings did.
To truly understand the weight of these names, you should stop looking at Pinterest boards and start looking at the Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements). It contains thousands of names of the original settlers of Iceland. It is the closest thing we have to a 1,000-year-old phone book. You'll find that for every "Lagertha," there were ten women named Thórunn or Hallveig.
Real power doesn't always need a flashy name. Sometimes, being the "New Fortress" is more badass than being the "Warrior Queen."
Practical Steps for Researching Names
- Consult the Pros: Look at the Nordic Names Database. It is the gold standard for etymology and historical usage.
- Read the Sagas: Don't just watch the shows. Read The Saga of the People of Laxardal. It features Auðr the Deep-Minded, one of the most powerful women in the Viking Age. Her name means "Wealth."
- Check the Runes: Many female names are preserved on runestones across Sweden and Denmark. These are primary sources—names carved in stone by people who actually knew the individuals.
- Mind the Grammar: Old Norse is a dead language with complex cases. If you're using a name for something permanent, make sure you're using the nominative form, not the possessive or dative.
The Viking Age wasn't just a man's world. It was a world of "Victory Secrets" and "Eagle Protectors" who managed farms, led migrations, and sometimes, grabbed a sword when the situation called for it.