Most people think of Valkyries as angels of the battlefield — figures who collect the dead and deliver them to Valhalla. That picture is almost entirely wrong, and the names are the proof. The Old Norse word valkyrja means "chooser of the slain," and choosing happened before the battle, not after. Valkyries determined who would fall. Their names are not character descriptions — they are divine job titles, and taken together they form a complete vocabulary of Norse war-fate.
Every Valkyrie Name Is a Fate-Encoded Battle Term
Scan any list of Valkyrie names and a pattern emerges immediately. They do not describe beauty, grace, or heavenly light. They describe spears, shields, battle noise, army fetters, and victory runes. Dr. Carolyne Larrington, Professor of Medieval European Literature at Oxford and translator of the Poetic Edda, has described Valkyrie names as functioning like wyrd-encoded names — compact poetic formulas she calls "battle kennings" that describe the nature of combat itself rather than the beings who wield it.
What this means in practice: when a Norse poet named a Valkyrie Geirskögul ("spear-shaker"), they were not naming a person. They were naming a force. Each name below is a window into how the Norse conceptualized fate, war, and the moment a warrior's life hung in the balance.
The Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál lists 13 Valkyries by name. Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, compiled around 1220 CE, expands that roster to 16. In total, Norse sources name approximately 25 distinct Valkyries across the surviving eddic and skaldic literature — which is exactly what this list covers.
The 25 Valkyrie Names
1. Brynhildr — "Armor Battle"
From bryn (mail-coat, armor) and hildr (battle). The most famous Valkyrie in Norse literature, Brynhildr appears in both the Poetic Edda and the Völsunga saga. She was put to sleep by Odin behind a ring of fire as punishment for disobeying his will — and later woken by the hero Sigurd. Her name literally means battle in armor, which suits a figure who bridges fate-weaving and warrior heroics in equal measure.
2. Sigrun — "Victory Rune"
From sigr (victory) and rún (rune, secret). One of the most lyrical of the chooser's vocabulary — the cluster of Old Norse battle-terms that recur across Valkyrie names as a distinct linguistic fingerprint. Sigrun appears in the Helgakviða Hundingsbana poems as a Valkyrie who falls in love with the hero Helgi, intertwining mortal emotion with divine purpose.
3. Hildr — "Battle"
The elemental root. Hildr appears in dozens of compound names across Germanic languages and is simply the Old Norse word for battle itself. She has the distinction of being named in the skaldic poem Ragnarsdrápa (one of the oldest surviving Norse poems) as a perpetual battle-stirrer who can resurrect fallen warriors so they fight again forever.
4. Skögul — "High One" or "Shaker"
Possibly from skögul meaning to shake or toss, or connected to skógr (forest, height). Listed in Grímnismál as one of Odin's twelve cup-bearers in Valhalla. The name suggests violent motion — the shaking of bodies or the earth when armies clash.
5. Göndul — "Wand-Wielder"
Likely derived from gandr (a magic wand or staff used in seiðr sorcery). Göndul appears in Hákonarmál, the skaldic memorial poem for King Hákon the Good, where she and Skögul ride to the battlefield to determine who will die. Her name connects the Valkyries directly to the tradition of Norse magic and fate-manipulation.
6. Geirskögul — "Spear-Shaker"
From geirr (spear) and skögul (shaker). A compound that doubles down on violent kinetic imagery. She is listed in Völuspá, the cosmological poem that opens the Poetic Edda, as one of the Valkyries sent by Odin to choose among the slain.
7. Skuld — "That Which Must Come"
From the Proto-Norse verb skulu (shall, must). Skuld is the most philosophically loaded name on this list — she is one of the three Norns (fate-weavers) who also rides with the Valkyries, making her the only figure in Norse mythology who formally belongs to both groups. Her name encodes obligation and inevitability: not just death, but fated death.
8. Herfjötur — "Host-Fetter"
From herr (host, army) and fjöturr (fetter, chain). She who binds armies — not with ropes but with panic, confusion, and the paralysis that descends on warriors before a rout. One of the darker names on the list, suggesting the Valkyries' power was not only to honor the brave but to break the unlucky.
9. Hlökk — "Battle Clang" or "Chain"
Possibly from hlakka (to scream, make noise) or connected to the concept of chains. Like Herfjötur, Hlökk suggests the noise and bondage of war — the screaming metal, the chains of fate. She is listed alongside Herfjötur in Grímnismál, and the pairing appears intentional: both names describe constraint.
10. Hrist — "The Shaker"
From hrista (to shake, tremble). One of two Valkyries specifically named as the ones who carry Odin's drinking horn in Grímnismál (alongside Mist). In Snorri's Prose Edda, she is also listed among those who ride to choose the slain. The shaking here is the earth itself under approaching armies.
11. Mist — "Mist" or "Cloud"
From mist (mist, vapor). Paired with Hrist as a cup-bearer to Odin. The name evokes battlefield obscurity — the fog of war made divine, the moment before clarity when no one yet knows who will survive. Among the shortest and most atmospheric Valkyrie names.
12. Göll — "Battle Cry"
From gjalla (to resound, yell). The name of the bridge to Hel is Gjallarbrú — from the same root. Göll embodies the thunderous sound of battle: the scream at the moment of contact, the noise that announces who has been chosen to fall.
13. Herja — "Ravager"
From herja (to raid, plunder, lay waste). A Valkyrie named for the act of destruction itself, found in the Nafnaþulur — the name-lists appended to the Prose Edda. Of all the Valkyrie names, Herja is among the most explicitly aggressive, stripping away any ambiguity about what these figures presided over.
14. Ráðgríðr — "Counsel-Violent"
From ráð (counsel, advice, plan) and gríðr (violence, greed). A name that captures something Norse mythology understood well: that strategy and savagery are inseparable in war. The name suggests a figure who plans the destruction as much as enacts it.
15. Randgríðr — "Shield-Violence"
From rönd (shield rim) and gríðr (violence). The shield variant to Ráðgríðr's counsel variant. Together they form a pair that covers both the tactical and physical dimensions of battle. The gríðr suffix recurs across multiple Valkyrie names, suggesting it was a specialized term in the chooser's vocabulary.
16. Reginleif — "Power's Legacy"
From regin (the divine powers, the gods) and leifr (legacy, remnant, what is left behind). One of the most theologically significant names: it positions the Valkyrie not as a servant of the gods but as a remnant of divine power itself — fate incarnated and set loose on the battlefield.
17. Þrúðr — "Strength"
From þrúðr (strength, power). Þrúðr is also the name of Thor's daughter in the Eddas, blurring the boundary between Aesir goddesses and Valkyries. The name is elemental — pure force without modifier, suggesting a Valkyrie who embodies martial power in its most unadorned form.
18. Skeggjöld — "Axe-Age"
From skegg (beard, or by extension axe-blade) and öld (age, era). A name that points toward Ragnarök — the axe-age is explicitly listed in Völuspá as one of the signs of the world's end: "an axe-age, a sword-age, shields are cleft asunder." A Valkyrie named for the apocalypse is among the most ominous on this list.
19. Geirölul — "Spear-Charger"
From geirr (spear) and possibly ölun (charger, bringer). One of the more disputed etymologies on the list, but the spear connection is consistent with the pattern: geirr appears in at least three Valkyrie names, making it the most common single element in the chooser's vocabulary.
20. Ölrún — "Ale-Rune"
From öl (ale) and rún (rune, secret). A Valkyrie who appears in the Völundarkviða poem as a swan-maiden rather than a battlefield figure, pointing to the breadth of the Valkyrie concept in Norse thought. Her name encodes the mead of Valhalla — the reward of the honored dead — rather than the battle itself.
21. Sváva — "The Soother"
Likely connected to svefn (sleep) or the Svabians (a Germanic people). She appears in Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar as a Valkyrie who names and protects the hero Helgi. Her name stands apart from the battle-violence cluster — softer, more protective, suggesting the Valkyries held roles beyond the battlefield carnage.
22. Kára — "Wild Storm"
Possibly from kárr (curly) or connected to a word for turbulent wind. She appears in Káruljóð (now lost except for references in the Hrómundar saga), where she flies over the battle in the form of a swan. Her name was interpreted by medieval scholars as embodying the storm of war itself.
23. Eir — "Mercy" or "Clemency"
From Proto-Norse airiz (peace, grace, help). Eir occupies a unique position: she is listed in the Prose Edda both as one of the Ásynjur (goddesses) and, in the Nafnaþulur, among the Valkyries. The most etymologically gentle name on the list, she was associated with healing — a reminder that fate-choosing carried the power to spare as well as to slay.
24. Sigrdrifa — "Victory-Driver"
From sigr (victory) and drifa (to drive, push forward). The sleeping Valkyrie whom Sigurd awakens in the Sigrdrífumál, the poem in which she teaches him runic wisdom. Many scholars identify her with Brynhildr; others treat her as a separate figure. Either way, her name describes pure offensive fate: victory not as luck but as something driven forward by divine will.
25. Hlíf — "Protection" or "Shield"
From hlíf (protection, shelter, shield). One of the Valkyries named in the Nafnaþulur, Hlíf rounds out the list as the protective counterweight to names like Herja and Skeggjöld. She reminds us that the Valkyries' choosing was not purely destructive — it was also the act of protecting those whose fate had not yet arrived.
Where These Names Are Heading
Here is a prediction: as Norse mythology continues its cultural surge — driven by games, television, and a growing interest in pre-Christian European traditions — Valkyrie names will migrate from fantasy fiction into mainstream baby name registries. Sigrun and Brynhildr are already appearing in Scandinavian naming databases with increasing frequency. The next decade will see names like Eir, Kára, and Þrúðr follow, moving from myth to playground with the same trajectory that Celtic names like Fiona and Brigid traveled in the 1990s.
The names were always this good. It just took the right cultural moment for the rest of the world to notice.
Try Them Yourself
Looking for a Valkyrie name for a character, a game, a pet, or just your own curiosity? These generators have you covered:
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