This Viking town name generator joins two Old Norse words. Hrafn is a raven and vík a bay, so Hrafnvík is raven bay. The words are real and the towns are made up.
Read the full guide
Press, then lock the ending
Press New town name. The name is the first word, in two parts. Tap a part to lock it and press again. Lock -fjörðr and every press names another fjord: Þokufjörðr is fog fjord. Lock a first part to name the farms and bays of one district.
What the endings mean
The list under the tool explains each ending: -vík is a bay, -ey an island, -býr a farm or town, -höfn a harbor and -kaupangr a marketplace. Each first part has its meaning beside it too, so Silfrkaupangr reads as silver market.
Tips
The letters ð and þ are both said like th: ð as in this, þ as in thing.
For an English-looking map, swap -vík for -wick and -býr for -by.
Questions and answers
What were real Viking towns called?
Hedeby, a Danish trading settlement of the Viking Age, was Heiðabýr in Old Norse, and York was Jórvík. Kaupang is generally considered the first town in Norway, and Birka stood on the island of Björkö in present-day Sweden.
Is it a Viking city name generator too?
Yes. Lock -borg, a stronghold or walled town, or -kaupangr, a marketplace, for the largest places. The same first parts serve a farm, a harbor and a town.
Are these real places?
They are made up. Every join was checked against GeoNames tables for Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, in old and modern spellings, and parts behind a real place were cut. A join can still match an old farm name.
How this list was compiled: Our own choice of 25 Old Norse words, each written as a bare stem or, for some, in an inflected form such as the genitive (Ullar from ull, Dreka from dreki), with the dictionary form in brackets where it differs. The meaning of each was checked on 2026-10-02 against the Old Norse section of its English Wiktionary entry (https://en.wiktionary.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0); the letter ö stands for the o with a hook of the dictionary spelling. Every name the First part and Ending rows can spell was checked that day, in this spelling and in the modern Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish spellings of each ending, against every named place in the GeoNames tables of Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the towns, villages and districts (not the farms) in those of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and places of 500 people and up worldwide, with alternate names (https://download.geonames.org/export/dump/, CC BY 4.0), against every list on this site, and as an exact page title on English Wikipedia; the first part behind a match was cut. 9 candidates were cut (5 a real place on the map; 2 a rude word inside or across the join; 1 on another list of this site; 1 a Wikipedia page title), among them Svölu, Reyni, Hasl, Kráku, Berja, Reyk, Hvít, Jarls. Old Norse often put the first part in the genitive (Skógar- for Skóg-); the page joins each part in the one form shown, and nobody who reads Old Norse has read the list. Licence: own selection; words and meanings from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ending: all 13 endings
B 2
borgA stronghold or walled town.
býrA farm or town. Hedeby was Heiðabýr in Old Norse.
E 1
eyAn island.
F 1
fjörðrA fjord or firth.
G 1
garðrAn enclosure, yard or stronghold.
H 2
heimrA home or homeland.
höfnA harbor.
K 1
kaupangrA marketplace.
Show all 13 endings (5 more)
O 1
þorpA hamlet or village.
S 1
staðirSteads: the plural of staðr, a place.
T 1
túnAn enclosure or home field.
V 2
víkA bay or inlet. York was Jórvík in Old Norse.
völlrA field or level ground.
How this list was compiled: 13 Old Norse words for a kind of place. The meaning of each was checked on 2026-10-02 against the Old Norse section of its English Wiktionary entry (CC BY-SA 4.0). The Old Norse names of York and Hedeby follow the English Wikipedia articles Scandinavian York and Hedeby, read the same day. 1 candidate was cut: nes, a headland, because Birkines and Rafnnes are the Old Norse names of two real farms in Norway (the English Wikipedia articles Birkenes Municipality and Ramnes Municipality, read the same day). Licence: own selection; words and meanings from English Wiktionary and English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sits at: all 25 sites
A 15
a bay with a shelving beach
a crossing of two trade roads
a gravel beach where ships are drawn up
a harbor under a steep hill
a headland with a beacon
a meeting of three valleys
a narrow isthmus
a natural harbor ringed by cliffs
Show all 25 sites (17 more)
A, continued
a portage from one lake to the next
a river ford
a sandy spit
a steaming spring
a tidal island
a winter harbor that stays free of ice
an anchorage behind the skerries
E 1
the end of a long inlet
F 2
the farm nearest the mountains
the foot of a waterfall
H 1
the head of a fjord
I 1
the inner side of a low island
L 1
the last stand of birches
M 1
the mouth of a salmon river
N 1
the narrowest point of a sound
S 2
the shallow end of a lake
the snout of a glacier
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 25 sites, written on 2026-10-02 to read after "a Norse town at". No line names a real place. Licence: own work
Trades: all 29 trade goods
A 1
antler combs
B 4
barley
barrels of herring
bars of iron
bolts of wool cloth
C 1
cattle hides
D 1
dried cod
E 1
eider down
Show all 29 trade goods (21 more)
F 2
feathers for bedding
fox and marten furs
G 1
glass beads
H 3
hack silver
honey and wax
hunting falcons
L 2
linen
lumps of amber
P 1
pine tar
Q 1
quern stones
R 2
reindeer antler
rope of walrus hide
S 6
sailcloth
salt boiled from seawater
sealskins
ship timber
smoked salmon
soapstone pots
W 3
walrus ivory
whale oil
whetstones
How this list was compiled: Our own list of 29 trade goods, written on 2026-10-02 to read after the words "It trades". The page makes no claim about what any real town sold. Licence: own work