The names used by the viking age scandinavians tells us quite a lot about them and their ways, since I do not think that any peace loving people would name their little newborn daughters "Battle" or "Sword goddess" - that's what the names Hildr and Hjördís mean.

Old norse names do have a meaning, i.e. a meaning that still must have been appearant to those who used them, not a meaning that was totally unknown and irrelevant to them, as are the meanings of most modern western names. But still, some names do not make any sense. Many names are put together from two parts, and some of these composite names appear quite sensible, whereas others do not. A name like Ingvarr means "Ingr warrior", i.e. "the warrior of (the god) Ingr", and Geirhildr means "spear battle", but on the other hand there are names like Sigsteinn "victory stone" and ..., and what about Jóbjörn - "The horse bear"? What were on his parents' minds?

The ancient scandinavians didn't have last names in the modern sense. Their only real name was their first name, but since there could be a lot of people called Óláfr or Inga in the same area, something more was often needed to identify a person, and then they could either use a nickname, a patronym or a title. People did not have and use titles like in many countries today, they were just used for identification, to separate king Óláfr - Óláfr konungr - from the blacksmith Óláfr - Óláfr smiðr. Patronyms were composed from the father's name (in the genitive case) and the word for either 'son' or 'daughter', i.e. if one Óláfr was the son of Björn and one son of Ingi, they could be called Óláfr Bjarnarson and Óláfr Ingason, and if they each had a sister called Inga, they would be called Inga Bjarnardóttir and Inga Ingadóttir. Nicknames were achieved the same way as today, through some characteristic or deed.

An important remark: Gods' names were for gods only! No humans were called Þórr!

Here are some name prefixes and suffixes, that can be put together into composite names. The prefixes are (in theory) the same for both sexes, but the suffixes are either masculine (for men) or feminine (for women). NB: Names are inflected the same way as other nouns!

Prefixes (for both men and women)
Al- 'all' Álf- 'elf' Arn- 'eagle' Ás- 'god' Auð- 'wealth' Björn- 'bear' Brynj- (Bryn- before consonants) 'coat of mail' Böð- (Böðv- before vowel) 'battle' Ei- (also Ey-) 'always' (or a form of Ein- 'only') Ein- (Ei- before l,r,m,n) 'one, only' Ey- (also Ei-) 'always' Far- 'travel' Fast- 'steady' Frey- 'Frey' (a god) Frið- 'peace'		Geir- 'spear' Grím- '...' Gunn- 'battle' Há- 'high' Há- (see Höð-) Hall- 'hall' Har- (see Her-) Her- (also Har-) (Herj- before vowel) 'army' Hjalm- 'helmet' Hjör- 'sword' Hloð- 'fame, glory' Holm- 'islet' Hring- 'ring' Hróð- (Hró- before r and l) 'glory' Höð- (also Há-) 'battle' Ing- (also Ingi-) 'Ingr' (a god) Ingi- (Ingv- or Yngv- before vowel) 'Ingr' (a god) Jó- 'horse' Jór- 'boar'		Jöfur- 'boar' Ketil- 'kettle' Odd- 'point, tip' Óðin- 'Óðinn' (the god Oden) Ótt- 'fear' Ragn- 'power' Rand- 'shield edge' Sig- 'victory' Skjöld- 'shield' Svan- 'swan' Þjóð- 'people' Þór- or Þor- 'Þórr' (the god Thor) Úlf- 'wolf' Vé- 'holy' Víg- 'battle' Yngv- (see Ing-) Öl- 'ale'
Masculine suffixes			Feminine suffixes
-aldr (see -valdr) -álfr 'elf' masc. a-st. -arr (also -varr) (from proto-norse -harjaR or -warjaR 'warrior') masc. a-st. -arr (see -geirr) -björn 'bear' masc. u-st. -fúss 'eager' masc. a-st. -gautr 'geat' masc. a-st. -geirr 'spear' masc. a-st. -gísl '...' masc. a-st. -hvatr 'brave' masc. a-st. -kell (see -ketill) -ketill (also -kell) masc. a-st. ; syncopated in dat. - Katli -láfr (see -leifr) -lákr (see -leikr) -laugr '...' masc. a-st. -leifr (also -láfr) 'heir' masc. a-st. -leikr (also -lákr) '...' masc. a-st. -marr 'famous' masc. a-st. -móðr '...' masc. a-st. ; gen. -ar -mundr 'power' masc. a-st. ; gen. -ar -olfr (see -ulfr) -rekr (see ríkr) -ráðr '...' mask. a-st. -ríkr (also -rekr) 'mighty' mask. a-st. -steinn 'stone' masc. a-st. -sveinn 'boy, servant' masc. a-st. -tryggr 'faithful' masc. wa-st. -þér 'servant' masc. a-st. -ulfr (also -olfr) 'wulf' -unn (see -vinr) -urðr (see -verðr) -valdr (-aldr after vowels) 'ruler, chief' masc. a-st. -varðr (see -verðr) -varr (also -arr) (from proto-norse -warjaR 'warrior') masc. a-st. -vér 'warrior' masc. a-st. ; (no ending in dat.) -verðr (also -varðr or -urðr) 'guardian, keeper' -vinr (also -unn) 'friend'			-björg (also -borg) 'salvation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -borg (also -biörg) 'salvation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -dís 'goddess' fem. iô-st. -eiðr (see -heiðr) -elfr 'female elf' fem. iô-st. -fríðr 'beautiful' fem. iô-st. -gerðr 'field' fem. iô-st. -guðr (stem -gunn-) fem. iô-st. -heiðr (or -eiðr after consonant) 'heath' fem. iô-st. -hildr (or -ildr after consonant) 'battle' fem. iô-st. -hvít 'white' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -ildr (see -hildr) -laug '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -leif 'heiress' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -löð 'invitation' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -ríðr '...' fem. iô-st. -rún 'secret, rune' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -þrúðr 'power' fem. iô-st. -uðr (stem -unn-) (also -unn) 'loved' fem. iô-st. -unn (also -uðr) 'loved' fem. iô-st. -vé '...' -veig '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u -vör '...' fem. ô-st. ; dat. and acc.(!) -u

In theory any prefix goes with any suffix. Such composite names can have rather strange meanings, but that does not appear to be a problem. Still, all combinations of prefix and suffix do not occur.

When the first and the second part of the composite names meet each other some assimilations occur. In some of the names sound changes have distorted the form of the parts so that they are difficult to identify, and sometimes those changes occured already in the proto-norse language. Since this site is primarily about old norse the historical explanations are at the bottom of the page for those who are interested.

Here are some examples of composite names, and, if necessary, what parts they consist of. Their inflection is of course the same as that of their suffixes.

Men's names
Alrekr Arnbjörn/Ambjörn = Arn- + -björn Arngeirr Arngrímr Ásbjörn Ásgautr Ásgeirr Áskell Ásmundr Ásvaldr Auðunn Bárðr = böð + verðr ? Brynjolfr Eiláfr = Ein- + -leifr/-láfr Einarr = Ein- + -arr Eiríkr/Eirekr = Ein- + -ríkr Eyjolfr Eysteinn Eyvindr Freysteinn Föstulfr Geirmundr Guðlaugr/Gullaugr Guðmundr Gunnarr Hálfr = Höð- + -ulfr Hallvarðr Haraldr = Her- + -valdr Hávarðr Herjolfr = Her- + -ulfr Hervarðr Hjörleifr Hjörvarðr Hloðvér = Hloð- + -vér Hróaldr = Hróð- + -valdr Hróðgeirr/Hróarr = Hróð- + -geirr/-(g)arr Hrólfr = Hróð- + -ulfr Hrollaugr = Hróð- + -laugr Hrómundr = Hróð- + -mundr Hrœrekr = Hróð- + -ríkr	Ífarr = Ing- + -arr Ingimarr Ingjaldr = Ingi- + -waldr Óláfr/Óleifr = Ön- + -leifr/-láfr Óláfr = Ön- + -leifr Óleifr = Ön- + -leifr Óttarr = Ótt- + -arr Ragnarr Rögnvaldr Randvér Sigfúss Siggeirr Sighvatr Sigmundr Sigsteinn Sigtryggr Sigurðr/Sigvarðr Styrbjörn = Styr- 'kaos' + -björn Þóraldr Þorarr/Þorgeirr = Þór- + -geirr Þorbjörn Þórðr/Þorvarðr = Þór- + -geirr Þorgeirr/Þórarr = Þór- + -geirr Þorgísl/Þorgils Þorgrímr Þorkell Þorlákr Þorleifr Þormóðr Þorolfr = Þór- + -ulfr Þorsteinn Þorvalðr/Þoraldr Þorvarðr/Þórðr = Þór- + -verðr Vígfúss Yngvarr = Ing- + -arr Øyvindr Önundr
Women's names
Álfhildr Álöf = Ön- + -leif Arnfríðr Ásleif Áslaug Ástríðr = Ás- + -fríðr Geirþrúðr Guðrún Gunnhildr Gunnlöð Gunnvör Gýríðr/Guðríðr = Guð- + -fríðr Hervör Hjördís Holmfríðr	Ingibjörg Ingigerðr Jófríðr Ólof/Ólöf = Ön- + -leif Ragnfríðr Ragnheiðr Ragnhildr Sigríðr = Sig- + -fríðr Sigþrúðr Svanhvít Þordís Þorelfr Þorgerðr Þorguðr/Þorgunnr Þórunn Þuríðr = Þór- + -fríðr

There are also single names. Some of them are identical with the suffixes above, others are derived from nouns, verbs or adjectives. Here are some such names. Their inflexion

Men's names
Bjarni masc. an-st., from björn 'bear' Björn 'bear' masc. u-st. Fasti 'the steady one' (fastr) masc. an-st. Grímr masc. a-st. Helgi 'the holy one' (heilagr) masc. an-st. Hrafn 'raven' masc. a-st.	Ingi masc. an-st., from Ing- Karl 'man' masc. a-st. Ketill 'kettle' masc. a-st. Oddr 'point, tip' masc. a-st. Ormr 'snake' masc. a-st. Steinn 'stone' masc. a-st. Sveinn 'young man' masc. a-st. Tryggvi 'the faithful one' (tryggr) masc. an-st. Þórir masc. ia-st., from Þórr Ulfr 'wolf' masc. a-st. Yngvi masc. an-st., from Ingr
Women's names
Ása fem. ôn-st., from áss Auðr 'wealth' fem. iô-st. Fríðr 'the beautiful one' (fríðr) fem. iô-st. Gunnr/Guðr 'battle' fem. iô-st. Helga 'the holy one' (heilagr) fem. ôn-st. Hildr 'battle' fem. iô-st.	Inga fem. ôn-st., from Ing- Þóra fem. ôn-st., from Þórr Ylfa fem. ôn-st., from ulfr Æsa fem. ôn-st., from áss

If you want even more names, you can find all the names in the icelandic Landnámabók here, and download a list of all the names in runic inscriptions here.