ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2178 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2178 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 21 Nov 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Norseman living in the Danelaw in the 9th century. You also asked if we could suggest appropriate surnames. Here is the information we have found. Unfortunately, does not appear to be a correct Old Norse name; while the prototheme (first element) is quite common, <-grumm> is not a deutorotheme (second element) that was used in Norse names. There is, however, a very similar name that might interest you: <{TH}orgri/mr>. In one document from Iceland dating from the 9th century, <{TH}orgri/mr> was the 11th most popular name. [1] In this name, the slash represents an accent over the previous letter and the {TH} represents the letter thorn, which looks like a

and a superimposed on each other. The {TH} is pronounced here like the 'th' in . Though we have less evidence for this name in the Danelaw, we found a number of towns with names deriving from the given name <{TH}orgri/mr>: , , and . We also found the given name recorded as in Yorkshire in 1066. [2] In Old Norse, a man was most often known as his father's son, e.g. <{TH}orgri/mr {TH}orvaldarson> "Thorgrim Thorvald's son." He might also be known by an epithet of some kind that described his appearance, behavior, occupation, etc. For information on chosing a surname, we recommend the following articles, available on-line: "A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/sg-viking.html "The Bynames of the Viking Age Runic Inscriptions" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/lindorm/runicbynames/ Linked to the first article is also a list of Old Norse given names. If you are interested in chosing something other than <{TH}orgri/mr>, any of the names in that list would be a fine choice. In your period, the Norse wrote in runes. If you would like to know how to write your name in runes, please write us again and we'll be happy to help. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicouer, Hartmann Rogge, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 21Nov00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Friedemann, Sara L., "Viking Names found in the Landna/mabo/k" (WWW: privately published, 1998) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html [2] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968). s.n. Thorgrim