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Usable Valkyrie Names

the valkyrie arthur rackham
The Valkyrie by Arthur Rackham


Valkyries are a magical, powerful, bold choice for parenting inspiration, and some have considered using Valkyrie itself as a given name - 48 in 2016, the highest number so far. But after seeing the imagery of a beautiful warrior from myth, we have to face the fact that Hrist and Sigrdrifa are not going to go over so well in the U.S. Using Valkyrie as a name, then, might just be the way to go, but Valkyrija and Valkyria (both val-KEER-ee-uh / val-KEER-yah) have been used - officially accepted as a name in Iceland in 2015. Here are a few others to mull over:

Brynhildr - could be shortened to Bryn (or just go with Bryn as an "honor" name). It could mean "armor battle" or "bright battle."
Eir - pronounced AYR, this is easy to say and short, but the spelling and pronunciation is not intuitive to a native English speaker. It means "peace, mercy."
Herja - prononced HARE-yah, its a lot like Freja or Anja, so if people see that connection they might not say "her-jah." The meaning "devastate" could be given any sort of spin: devastate your competition or something similar.
Hildr - a lot like Hilda, but Hilda might just be easier. This one means "battle."
Kara - probably the easiest, but you'll head CARE-uh a lot. It either means "the curly one" or wild, stormy one."
Mist - I find this one adorable. She's not dated Misty, she's a modern-yet-ancient, mysterious, nature word-name that actually means "mist" in her native tongue as well... however, people will probably assume you forgot the letter y and call her Misty anyway, which is fine if you want Misty as a nickname for formal name Mist.
Róta - this one is super cute yet bold and strong, with an Old-World feel, definite warrior veins, and an underlying meaning of "sleet and storm," which is very mysterious and weathery.
Sigrun - meaning "victory rune," this one has a little bit of a LOTR feel to it, but it's heavy on the Scandi, and even when butchered by American pronunciations it retains most of its dignity.
Svafa / Svava - in the same difficulty level as Svea, Sveva, Svetlana, etc, this will be hard for most to pronounce, but worth it for that suave, soft, exotic sound. This one likely means "sleep-maker," and as a parent I can tell you that would've been a nice choice!
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  1. BryntMayzMarch 2, 2018 at 4:24 AM

    GREAT list!! Thankyou so much!! I also love “Sif” a lot too. From your list, I dig Eir. ;) Be well!

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