Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic
Meaning: “glacier rose; ice rose.”
The name is composed of the Icelandic elements jökul meaning “ice cap; glacier” and rós meaning “rose.” The name is not very common in Iceland, as of 2007, only one person bore this as first name and only six had it has a middle name.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic
Meaning: “embers”
The name comes directly from the Icelandic word for embers and is not very common in Iceland. It is currently only borne by one person in Iceland and and 10 people have it as their middle name.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic
Meaning: “snow; snowdrift.”
The name is derived from the Icelandic words, fannar and fannir, meaning “snow” or “snowdrift.”
As of 2007, only 4 women in Iceland bore this as a first name, and 42 had it as a middle name.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic
Meaning: “heavy snow fall; snow drift.”
The name comes directly from the Icelandic word describing a heavy snow fall or snow drift.
As of 2007, there were approximately 155 women in Iceland who bore this as a first name, and 49 who had it as a middle name.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic
Meaning: “pine tree.”
(FEU-rah) the u is somewhat akin to the French eu sound.
The name comes from the Icelandic word for pine tree, according to the Icelandic Registry, only 3 women bore the name as of 2007.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Icelandic/Faroese
Meaning: “oak”
Ice (AKE)
The name is an Icelandic and Faroese female name and comes from the Old Norse word for “oak”. It remains the word for oak in Dutch, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese. However, its usage as a female given name is exclusive to both Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The Danish word for oak (eg), the Swedish word for oak (ek) and the German word for oak (eiche) share the same etymological root.
According to the Icelandic Registry, 18 women bore Eik as a first name and 110 bore it as a middle name.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Norwegian
Meaning: “new Thor; young Thor.”
(TOH-neh).
The name is a more modern Norwegian form of then Old Norse female name Torný, which is composed of the elements Tor (Thor, which means “thunder” but in this case the name was most likely created in reference to the god) and ný meaning “new; young.” Other Norwegian forms include Todne, Todni, Torny, Tønni (a Norwegian dialectal form from Numedal in Buskerud) and Tonni. Swedish forms are Tona, Toni and Tony. Faroese forms are Tóna and Torný and the Icelandic form is Þórný.
The designated name-day in Norway is November 2.
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Norwegian/Old Norse
Meaning: “one winter old bear.”
(VET-leh)
The name is derived from the Old Norse Veturliði which is composed of the elements vetr meaning “winter” and liði meaning “one who fares.” Veturliði is still in use in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Other forms include the Old Norse Vetreliðr and Vetreliði, other Norwegian dialectical forms include Velle (Rogaland) and Vete/Vette (Östfeld).
In modern Norwegian the word Vetle coincides with the word for small. In this case it is the name of one of Norway’s highest mountain peaks known as the Vetle Skagastølstinden or the Vesle Skagastølstind.
The designated name-day in Norway is November 1.
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Icelandic/Norwegian
Meaning: “to upset; to disturb”
The name comes from the Old Norse verb meaning “to upset; to disturb.” Most likely, it was originally an epithet or nickname, today, Sturla is a common form in Iceland, while Sturle is popular in Norway.
The name was borne by by Sturla Sightvatsson (1199-1238), the brother of Icelandic author, Snorri Sturlusson, and an Icelandic chieftan, a vassal of King Haakon IV of Norway.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “little she-bear; she-cub; little female bear.”
Eng (ERS-uh-LAH)
The name is of Latin origin but is suggested that is may be a latinization of the old Germanic female name Yrsa meaning “bear” and was popularized by a medieval Christian saint said to be martyred in Cologne. Not much is known about the saint, other that she was martyred under Huns along with 11,000 other virgins, which is now believed to be a misprint from the written source of the legend. What is known for sure is that there was a basilica built in honour of a virgin Christian martyr in Cologne and from this arose several different legends referring to a St. Ursula and St. Cordula. According to the legend, St. Ursula was a British princess who was sent by her father to Germany to marry a prince, along with her, were sent 11,000 maidens, however, her ship was taken off course due to a storm and instead ended up in France where she then decided to do a pan-European Christian pilgramage before meeting her future husband. She made a pilgramage to Rome where she tried to pursuade the pope to do a pilgramage with her and her 11,ooo companions. When she reached cologne she and her companions were massacred by the Huns.
The legend is based off of a 4th century inscription written in the Basilica which was built in the saint’s honour. It is believed that the 11,ooo handmaidens was confused with a female martyr named Undecimilia, Undecimila or Xemilia and that the abbreviation XI.M.V was misread as a number. The same saint has also been referred to under the names Pinnosa or Vinnosa. The name was quite prevalent in Great Britain before the Reformation and went out of usage afterwards. The name is also borne by Swiss actress Ursula Andress (b. 1936). It has also appeared in popular culture as the name of the evil sea-witch in Disney’s the Little Mermaid and as the name of the wife of Nigellus Phineas Black in the Harry Potter Series.
In Poland, the name is associated with a great piece of Polish Literature written by Jan Kochanowski. Known as Laments (Treny) 1580, they are a series of 19 elegies which talk about the author’s grief after the death of his two and half year old daughter Orszola (Urzula) which he refers to as the Slavic Sappho.
Other forms of the name are (divided alphabetically by nationality):
There are a few male equivalents which include: