Norse2 syllablesSaga name
Meaning: warrior; fighter in battle.
Gunnar
| Origin | Old Norse — Gunnarr, in continuous use across Scandinavia since the Viking Age |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Old Norse gunnr or guðr (war, battle) + -arr, the second element from herr (army) — “warrior” |
| Pronunciation | GOON-ar in Scandinavia; GUN-ar is the usual American reading and nobody will correct you |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and rare in America; an everyday name in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland |
| Variants | Gunnarr (Old Norse), Gunner (English spelling), Gunther and Günther (German), Gunnari, Gunar |
| Nicknames | Gunn, Gunni |
| In literature | Gunnar of Hlíðarendi, the central figure of the first half of Njáls saga |
History & meaning
Gunnar is one of the least ambiguous names in Europe. Old Norse Gunnarr splits cleanly into gunnr, war or battle, and -arr, the very common second element derived from herr, army — so, a fighter, a man of the war-host. The first element is the same one that sits inside Gunnhild and Gúnnýr, and it belonged originally to the vocabulary of the valkyries. The name has been in unbroken use in Scandinavia for well over a thousand years, which is rarer than it sounds.
Two literary bearers keep it alive. In the Volsung material — the Poetic Edda, the Völsunga saga, and the German Nibelungenlied, where he appears as Gunther — Gunnarr Gjukason is the Burgundian king who wins Brynhild by deception, has a hand in the killing of Sigurd, and dies in Atli's snake pit, playing a harp with his toes because his hands are bound. In Njáls saga, written in Iceland around 1280, Gunnar of Hlíðarendi is the finest fighter in the country; sentenced to exile, he rides for the ship, looks back at his farm and says the slope has never looked so fair, turns the horse around, and is killed at home for it. It is the most quoted passage in Icelandic literature.
Why parents choose it
Gunnar is a hard name that is not a harsh one. The double n gives it a solid centre, the ending stays open, and it sits comfortably on an adult. It is worth noting the difference between Gunnar and the increasingly common American spelling Gunner: one is a Norse personal name with a thousand years of continuous use, the other is an artillery rating. Parents who want the sound and not the ordnance should take the two n's.
Middle names for Gunnar
The stress falls hard on the first syllable, so a flowing middle helps: Gunnar Elias, Gunnar Mathias, Gunnar Erik, Gunnar Wilhelm. The middle names guide has more on stress patterns.
Famous Gunnars
Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist, wrote An American Dilemma in 1944 and shared the Nobel prize in economics in 1974. Gunnar Gunnarsson was for decades Iceland's most widely read novelist abroad. Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored the winning goal in the 1999 Champions League final, and the Icelandic fighter Gunnar Nelson has competed in the UFC since 2012.
Consider instead
Magnus has the same Nordic solidity with a Latin root and a royal history. Leif is shorter, equally Norse, and attached to the first European in North America. Soren keeps the Scandinavian sound in a gentler register.