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Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about a name and armory for an Old Norse persona from the period 750-1100. Specifically, you wanted to know whether <Grimnar> is a reasonable constructed given name based on such names as <Ragnarr> and <Einarr>; if not, you were interested in the names <Grimnir>, <Grimr>, and <Grim>. You were also interested in a byname meaning '(with the) raven axe', referring to an axe decorated with an inlay in the form of a raven. Finally, you were interested in canting armory containing a pair of ravens.
It's true that many Old Norse names are compounds of elements that appear in other compound names. It's also true that Old Norse practice seems to have allowed considerable freedom in combining these elements. If the <-narr> in <Ragnarr> and <Einarr> were such an element, <Grimnarr> would be quite plausible. Unfortunately, these names actually split as <Ragn-arr> and <Ein-arr>, respectively. [2] Their second element is <-arr>, and there apparently isn't an Old Norse second element <-narr>. Therefore we don't think that <Grimnarr> can be justified. On the other hand, the compound <Grímarr> actually exists and is attested from the 10th century. [3] (The slash denotes an acute accent over the preceding vowel.)
Contrary to what one might expect, Odin's aliases do not generally seem to have been used as ordinary men's names. <Grímnir> is no the name of a king of the giants. [3] Thus, it is inappropriate for a human persona from any period. (It is also not registerable with the SCA College of Arms.)
<Grímr>, on the other hand, was quite common from c.800 on through the Middle Ages. [3] (This makes it one of the very few exceptions to the observation mentioned in the last paragraph, since it was another of Odin's aliases.) <Grim> is another form of the same name, but it didn't appear until after your period. [1, 3, 5]
Either <Grímarr> or <Grímr> would be fine Old Norse given names for your period. The first is pronounced \GREE-mar\. The second is almost \GREEM\, since the final <r> is very nearly silent.
We found no word in Old Norse that means 'axe decorated with a raven'; indeed, we found no examples of words with similar meanings. However, there are examples of personal nicknames referred to axes or ravens separately. [4] There are several instances of <hrafn> 'raven' as a byname, as in <Grímarr Hrafn> 'Grimar Raven', pronounced \GREEM-ar KHRAHVN\. (Here <KH> represents the sound of <ch> in German <ach> or Scottish <loch>. The final <n> of <Hrafn> is a bit tricky, because it's not pronounced as a separate syllable.) The same word can even be found as a sort of prefix to the given name, as in <Hrafna-Grímarr> 'Raven-Grimar' (pronounced \KHRAHV-na GREEM-ar\). There are also several instances of <bíldr> 'axe' (pronounced almost like \BEELD\); <Grímarr Bíldr> 'Grimar Axe' would be fine. It could probably also be used as a prefixed nickname, though we found no such example in the records; the correct form would be <Bíld-Grímarr> 'Axe-Grimar' (pronounced \BEELD GREEM-ar\).
We want to emphasize, however, that <Hrafnabíldr> would not be an authentic nickname. It's a grammatical construction, but its most probable meaning is 'raven's axe, axe belonging to a raven', and we've found nothing in Old Norse naming practice to justify such a nickname.
Nevertheless, there is a possibility that you could use both <Hrafna-> and <Bíldr>, though not as a single byname. There are quite a few examples of men who were known by two different bynames. It appears that on any given occasion only one was used, but we did fine one example showing simultaneous use of both: <Kaupa-He{dh}inn hinn mikli> 'Bargain-Hedhinn the large'. (For an explanation of {dh}, please see note [6].) This may justify <Hrafna-Grímarr Bíldr> 'Raven-Grimar Axe'. However, it's clear that such double bynames were very rare, and we recommend using only one of the two.
In your period it appears that most people also used bynames identifying their fathers or mothers. For example, the historical <Hrafna-Flóki> is known in full as <Hrafna-Flóki Vilger{dh}ar son> 'Raven-Floki Vilgerdh's son' after his mother <Vilger{dh}r>. [4] Similarly, you might be <Grímarr Bildr Grímsson> 'Grimar Axe, Grim's son'. We would be happy to help you construct a suitable byname of this type.
Since heraldry was a creation of the 12th century, it really isn't possible to design arms appropriate to your period. If you're interested in some thoughts on how to deal with heraldry and a pre-heraldic persona, you may want to read the article that we've posted at
<http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html>
In the meantime we've come up with several coats containing a pair of ravens and compatible with early armorial style.
Early armory is simple. Many coats use only one kind of charge. When more than one kind is used, one is generally an ordinary, e.g., a stripe running across the shield in some direction. For this reason we did not try to incorporate an axe in these designs. To the best of our knowledge none of them conflicts with any armory protected by the SCA College of Arms.
Gules, in pale two ravens argent.
Argent, a bend engrailed between two ravens gules.
Argent, a bend between two ravens gules.
Gules, a bend engrailed between two ravens argent.
Gules, a bend between two ravens argent.
Arval Benicoeur and Lindorm Eriksson also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been helpful and that we can continue to be of assistance.
For the Academy,
Talan Gwynek
[1] _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Kopenhagen: 1936-40).
[2] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968).
[3] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1905-1915). (The <a:> is an a-umlaut, and the <a*> is an a-ring, an <a> with a small circle directly over it.)
[4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala: 1920-21).
[5] _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_ (Uppsala: 1967-95).
[6] The symbol '{dh}' represents the letter 'edh', which is pronounced like the <th> in modern English <they>. To form this letter, make an ordinary <d> with the ascender curled over a bit to the left, like a backwards <6>. Then make a small horizontal stroke through the curled-over ascender.