Norwegian2 syllablesOld Norse
Meaning: wealth-friend; prosperous and open-handed.
Audun
Audun and Edwin are the same idea built twice, once in Old Norse and once in Old English: wealth plus friend, in that order, by two branches of one language family that had stopped talking to each other.
| Origin | Norwegian — from Old Norse Auðunn |
|---|---|
| Meaning | auðr, riches, wealth or fortune + vinr, friend |
| Pronunciation | OW-dun — the au is a diphthong close to the ow of "how", the stress on the first syllable |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and effectively unused there; in Norway an uncommon but entirely normal name |
| Variants | Auðunn (Old Norse and Icelandic), Auden (the English surname form), Odin is a different name entirely |
| Nicknames | Audde in Norwegian family use |
| English cousin | Edwin is the exact Old English parallel: ēad, wealth + wine, friend |
History & meaning
Auðr is riches, wealth, the good fortune that shows up as property; vinr is a friend. Auðunn puts them together, and the obvious English rendering — friend of wealth — sells the name short. In a society where standing was maintained by giving things away, the man with riches was the man able to be generous, and a wealth-friend is closer to open-handed than to acquisitive. The proof that this was an old and natural thing to call a child is that another language did it independently: Old English took ēad, prosperity, and wine, friend, and produced Eadwine, which came down to modern English as Edwin. Two branches of Germanic, the same two concepts, the same order.
The best Audun in the literature is not a warrior. Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka is a short thirteenth-century tale about a poor man from Iceland's western fjords who spends everything he owns on a polar bear in Greenland, declines to sell it to the king of Norway, carries it to the king of Denmark instead, walks to Rome as a pilgrim, comes back with nothing at all, and is sent home wealthy by the kings he impressed. It is a story about generosity being repaid, which for a name meaning wealth-friend is close to perfect casting.
Why parents choose it
For the sound as much as anything: the open OW opening is uncommon in names and gives Audun a warmth that harder Norse compounds do not have. English speakers can usually manage it on the first attempt, and the spelling survives immigration intact, with no ø or å to lose. The one confusion worth heading off is Odin, which looks adjacent on paper and has nothing to do with it.
Middle names for Audun
The soft n ending pairs well with a consonant opening: Audun Magnus, Audun Kristoffer, Audun Leif, Audun Theodor. Skip middles beginning with a vowel, which run the two names together. See the middle names guide.
Famous Auduns
Audun Grønvold won Olympic bronze in ski cross at Vancouver in 2010 after a career in alpine racing. Audun Kleive has drummed at the centre of Norwegian jazz for decades, on records that helped define the country's improvised music. Audun Lysbakken led Norway's Socialist Left Party for ten years and served as a government minister before that.
Consider instead
Edwin is the same name in English, and the pairing is a good argument for either. Arne is the shorter Norwegian classic, meaning eagle. Vegard keeps the two-syllable Norwegian shape and means guardian of the sanctuary.