Norwegian2 syllablesOutside the U.S. top 100
Meaning: a dwarf-smith's name, linked to the sparks of a forge.
Sindre
A myth name that is not a god's name. Sindre belongs to a dwarf with an anvil, and the objects that came off that anvil include the hammer Thor carries.
| Origin | Norwegian — from Old Norse Sindri, a dwarf-name out of the myths |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Traditionally connected to Old Norse sindr, the slag and sparks thrown off hot iron — a smith's word rather than a warrior's |
| Pronunciation | SIN-dreh — two syllables, stress on the first, the final e sounded |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and rare in the United States; in Norway a modern revival that became an everyday choice for boys born in the 1980s and 1990s |
| Variants | Sindri (Old Norse and modern Icelandic), Sindre (Norwegian) |
| Nicknames | Norwegian uses the full name; there is no established short form |
| In the myths | The dwarf whose forge produces the hammer Mjölnir, the golden boar Gullinbursti and the ring Draupnir |
History & meaning
The oldest trace is a single line in Völuspá, which places a golden hall in Niðavellir belonging to the kin of Sindri. The famous story comes later, in Snorri Sturluson's Skáldskaparmál: Loki wagers his own head against a pair of dwarf brothers, who work through his sabotage — he turns into a fly and bites the one working the bellows — to produce three treasures, among them Mjölnir. Snorri calls the brothers Brokkr and Eitri. Later manuscripts and virtually every retelling since name the second brother Sindri, and that is the version the name now carries. Worth knowing, and worth saying, that the sources are not unanimous.
Sindri is best explained by sindr, the scale and sparks that fly when iron is worked, which is a plausible thing to call a smith and a hard thing to prove. As a name for actual children it went quiet for centuries and came back in modern Norway, part of the same broad recovery of Old Norse material that put Vidar and Steinar back on birth certificates. Iceland kept Sindri in continuous use in the older spelling.
Why parents choose it
Norse mythology names usually mean choosing a deity, which is a lot of weight for an infant. Sindre offers the mythology without the theology: a craftsman, an inventor, the figure who actually makes the famous object rather than swinging it. The sound helps too — soft, unstressed at the end, nothing like the growl parents expect from a Viking name. There is more of this stock on the Norwegian names page.
Middle names for Sindre
Two trochaic syllables leave room for something longer or something blunt: Sindre Alexander, Sindre Emil, Sindre Vidar, Sindre Leo. Anything beginning with a hard D blurs into the -dre. Method and more pairings are in the middle names guide.
Famous Sindres
Because the revival is recent, the bearers are young: the best known internationally is the Norwegian cross-country skier Sindre Bjørnestad Skar, a fixture of the World Cup sprint circuit. Beyond individual people, the name has real cultural presence — Sindri and Brokk appear as characters in Santa Monica Studio's God of War games, which have introduced the pair to a far larger audience than the Prose Edda ever reached.
Consider instead
Sverre shares the Norwegian register and the two-syllable shape but comes with a king attached. Vidar is a god rather than a smith, silent and vengeful, and equally current in Norway. Steinar keeps the Old Norse feel with a meaning you can state in two words: stone warrior.