The Rune Converter transforms Roman alphabet, as used in modern English, into five systems of Germanic runic writing: Elder Futhark, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (also spelled Futhork), Long Branch Younger Futhark, Short Twig Younger Futhark and staveless runes (note that it does not translate the words themselves, it only converts letters into runes). A possibility to choose between these allows to establish a connection with a certain bloodline, tradition or historical period: for instance, if one wishes to emphasize the Viking connection, why use the Elder Futhark, if Vikings did not use it? One should choose between one of the Younger Futhark options instead.
What Types of Runes Are Supported?
Elder Futhark is the most ancient Germanic runic alphabet that was in use from the 2nd to 8th centuries by all Germanic tribes. This system of runic writing has a very peculiar and complex inner structure.
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is the variant of the Elder Futhark that was used by the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians from the 5th to 9th centuries. From 24 it was extended to 26 and later to 33 runes.
Younger Futhark began to develop at the end of the 8th century and was accepted by the 10th century in the whole of Scandinavia. The normal or standard representation of the Younger Futhark is its Long Branch variant, also known as Danish runes. Another variant, called Short Twig, is also known as Norwegian-Swedish or Rök runes. Staveless or Hålsinge runes were used only in a restricted area and may be a good example of minimalism. They also may be interpreted as a secret writing system.
What To Write With Runes?
Perhaps the most obvious idea is to write with runes one’s own name. Runic iscriptions with a name used specific formulae that were characteristic for each period and each system of runic writing. Below are a few examples that may serve as guidelines (just put these runes after the name):
Elder Futhark
fahide, ‘wrote, painted’
tawide, ‘made’
talgide, ‘carved’
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
mic æh, ‘owns me’
For more creative solutions and complex phrases one may find helpful to read about the magic runes or runic love quotes. Note that Scandinavians had a tradition to write with runes various Latin sentences.
Waiver of Liability
Keep in mind that computer generated texts should be used with caution for any permanent use like tattoos or engravings. This tool is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind.
Photo by henribergius. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.
I was hoping to have my daughter’s name, Isadoram (Ih-Za-Doh-Ra), converted into Saxon runes, but am having trouble with the phonetics.
Any advice?
April 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Hi Tedd. Anglo-Saxons did not use a special rune for the sound z. So the second rune in the name Isadora would be the one that corresponds to the Roman letter s (just like in the modern English orthography). All the other sounds have corresponding runes in the Anglo-Saxon system. You have just to type in the name and press the convert button. You’ll get the correct variant.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I entered my name into another converter on a diffrent website and the two bolts at the start and end of my last name appear in a diffrent direction than on this site.
Is there a diffrent meaning with the bolts backwards and how do I know which is correct.
Dan
May 20th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Hi Dan. I think this post on the Elder Futhark inner structure would be a good answer. Opposite direction of certain signs as compared to the main direction of an inscription is a very common thing (this does not affect meaning). Researchers do not have an unshakeable agreement as for the correct direction of all the runic signs. Actually, there are no correct variants, there are those which occur more often and those which occur less often. However, if one follows the link above and studies the two most ancient sequential listings of Elder Futhark runes, the main tendences should become clear.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:00 am
I’m thinking about getting Huginn and Muninn tattooed on my back, with their names written in norse runes below them, but I’m having a preposterous amount of difficulting finding any examples of their names written in runes. Do you know anywhere I could find them?
May 27th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Hi Mike. If you would like to have their names written in the Elder Futhark runes, the sequence for Huginn would be: hagalaz-uruz-gebo-isa-naudiz (double n at the end is rendered with a single rune), and for Muninn: mannaz-uruz-naudiz-isa-naudiz. If you would like to have them in the Younger Futhark runes (which would be more correct, since their historic use is closer to the period when the ravens of Odin became a characteristic feature of the Scandinavian mythology) the sequence for Huginn would be: hagall-úr-kaun-iss-nauð, and for Muninn: maðr-úr-nauð-iss-nauð. Then you may want to type in both names in the form Hugin and Munin into the converter and check whether you got the same result. If you have any difficulties, let me know.
May 27th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
i’ll be getting a tattoo soon, and an interested in my name (SETH) in Elder Futhark, a lil bit viking esque, it would be only three runes long, right?
sowilo-ehwaz-burisaz
because there’s a TH sound, and the e is short
correct me if im wrong, i’d like to make sure i get it right! and which sowilo is “correct” the one like a capital E or the stylized angular S? thanks!
July 26th, 2009 at 1:49 am
so i already posted my comment, but i decided on my full name, Seth McCombs, any help?
July 26th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Hi Seth. Yes, the sequence sowilo-ehwaz-þurisaz for your first name is correct (where þ=th, not to be confounded with b). The variants for the sowilo rune depend on area and time, and all are “correct,” if used in original runic inscriptions (“correct” I understand as “historic” here, since there were no strict orthography or any other strict rules for individual signs or words). As for your second name, as far as I understand, in its English form it has a sound that is not written but pronounced (Mc = Mac), and a sound that is written, but not pronounced (b in Comb). Please correct me if I am wrong. So I’d rather write it in runes the same way as it is written in English, since phonetic transcription presents too many complications. Double c in McComb should probably be written with a single rune for k, kauna. So we get mannaz-kauna-oþila-mannaz-berkana.
July 26th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
there would be a sowilo rune on the end because the “S” is pronounced in mccombs, basically, pronounced mac-combs,
July 26th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
So we have mannaz-kauna-oþila-mannaz-berkana-sowilo for your second name. Of course this does not mean that real rune masters would carve it the same way at the time when the Elder Futhark was in use. They would take the sound of name as a basis. Moreover, they would change the name in a way that would be more familiar for an ancient Germanic ear (basically the same names were not pronounced the same way in various ancient Germanic languages, cf. viking names in the Anglo-Saxon sources). But the variant that we just have worked out together certainly pays homage to the ancient runic tradition.
July 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hi, I’m looking to possibly get a tattoo of my name in runes, but I’m not sure which alphabet to use. My name is Jared Compton.
I have very distant Saxon heritage, from around and before the time the Saxons invaded Wessex. What runes were used at that time and were they used by the Saxons?
August 1st, 2009 at 5:28 am
Hi Jared. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that Wessex was founded by a Saxon leader named Cerdic who landed in Hampshire in 495 with his son Cynric in three ships, and became the first king of Wessex about 519. The use of runes seems to be very rare in early Saxon Wessex. As for some inscriptions there is disagreement whether they belong to the Anglo-Saxon or Continental type. In general the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was in use from the 5th through the 9th centuries. As early as about the time the Saxons came to Wessex, those who remained on the Continent might well use the Elder Futhark, whereas those in Wessex and the Isle of Wight probably preferred the variant that is known to us as the Anglo-Saxon runes. I would advise to contact a specialist in early Wessex inscriptions in order to have more specific information. I hope it helps.
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:04 am
I’ve been looking for runic sequences for Thor’s hammer (Mjolnir or variant spellings). Clearly, I would expect the actual sequences used to be known but have not had luck in finding such. I lean toward the pronounciation rendered as myoel nir (oe ligature representing the German Holle or konnen sound). Assistance would be appreciated.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Hi Snorri. This is a very good question. I am not aware of any extant runic inscriptions containing the word in question. In Old Norse texts it is spelled either mjǫllnir or mjǫlnir. They sell lots of pendants that try to feature it in the Elder Futhark runes (here is an example: Thors Hammer Pendant
) through the sequence *mannaz-*jera-*oþila-*laguz-*naudiz-*isa-*raido or something similar. It is a mistake. The word mjǫlnir is an Old Norse word. Old Norse developed around the 8th century. It was so different as compared to its older form, Proto-Norse, that Scandinavians had to reform their writing system, adopting the Younger Futhark. By the 9th century the Elder Futhark was not in use any more.
If we were to write the word designating Thor’s hammer in the Elder Futhark runes, we would have to reconstruct it in Proto-Norse. If we agree with what Pokorny states in his Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, and ON mjǫlnir is indeed akin to Russian молния, ‘lightning’ (<*mьldnьji), then in Proto-Germanic (Common Germanic) we would reconstruct it as *melð[u]nii̯az. In Proto-Norse the final z would have changed to -R (*algiz, not *raido rune). However, there are other possible etymologies and reconstructions. Therefore I would simply use the Younger Futhark to write this word in runes. One would have the following sequence: maðr-iss-óss-lögr-nauð-iss-ýr (note that the final rune should not be reið, see above).
August 10th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Hello, I was thinking of getting my two Kids names tattooed in Viking runes on my Forearms. I was wondering which is the closest to true Runes that the Vikings used. I read to go with one of the Younger Furthark but I just want to be sure. Their names are Bergen(Boy) and Kamryn(Girl)
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:56 am
Hi Brad. The Viking Age began on June 8, 793 (Lindisfarne). Runic inscriptions dating to the 7th and 8th centuries are not numerous (all of them were found in Norway and Sweden). They are still in the Elder Futhark, but the use of several runes was changed, new forms were slowly introduced. The radical reform in the result of which the Younger Futhark emerged, happened at the end of the 8th century in Denmark. By the 10th century the Younger Futhark was accepted throughout Scandinavia, when it replaced all transitional forms. With this in mind we may say that people whom we call Vikings rather used Younger Futhark.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Thanks for the reply! Just to be sure, what should my kids names look like if done in the Younger Futhark? Thanks
Names
Bergen
Kamryn
September 8th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Hi Brad. Find an image with your kids’ names in long branch Younger Futhark runes attached to an email that I’ve just sent. We do not know how Viking runemasters would carve these names, but this variant seems to be in line with the genuine tradition.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Hi, i’m working on an extensive viking/norse tattoo, and it will include runes. My question regards the first letter of the word, another website i converted any word into runes at does not include the first rune. An example would be Muninn, it lists it as “Uruz, Nauthiz, Isa, Nauthiz” leaving out the M. I was wondering if that is correct or why they would say to leave out the first letter? Also would the runes translate better if the word was written in Norwegion or Icelandic rather than english?
Thanks.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Hi Craig. I think the problem with the converter on the other web site that you mentioned may be explained by the fact that it did not work with the capital letters. If you typed in “Munin” try “munin” instead. The rune converter on this site works fine both with the upper-case and lower-case letters. As for your other question, the result depends on the algorithm that stands behind the converter. Mine works with modern English only. If you incert letters with Old Norse diacritics, they won’t be converted into runes. I am working on a new algo that would work with Scandinavian graphics as well.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
My last name, “Zetterberg” is swedish and I’m thinking about getting it as a tattoo. I’m wondering how the swedish vikings would have written it. I want it to be as accurate as possible and was wondering what type of futhark the swedish vikings used. I’m also wondering if it would be correct to keep the the double “t”s or shorten it to just one.
Thanks.
September 11th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Hi Caleb. In the 9th century Old Norse diverged into Old West Norse and Old East Norse, then Old East Norse diverged into the dialects of Denmark and Sweden. So Swedish and even Old Swedish are a lot different than Old Norse. The Younger Futhark has no rune for “z”, since this sound developed in Swedish later in history. Thus we have two options: (1) find out the etymology of your second name and reconstruct its possible elder (Old Norse) form; (2) write your name in medieval runes, which have counterparts for all letters of the Roman alphabet (under the influence of Latin). Unfortunately, I cannot help you with Swedish etymology: the second element (“berg”) must be the same as ON berg, ‘rock’; but the first element is unclear for me. At all events, any attempt to write anything with runes should have a clear objective: we have to decide whether we want to write it the way Vikings (medieval Swedes, ancient Germanic warriors etc) would carve it, or we just want to use runes in order to pay homage to a certain heritage or tradition. In the first case, we have to be prepared for etymological research (like the one about the runic form of the word Mjöllnir). In the second case we are free to use runes more or less arbitrarily (why not just use s instead of z).
Runic inscriptions usually have one rune for double consonants. Swedish Vikings used Norwegian-Swedish or Rök runes, also known as short-twig runes.
September 13th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
According to ancestry.com, the “Zetter” in “Zetterberg” is an ornamental spelling of “Säter”, which they said means ‘mountain pasture’ and “berg” means ‘mountain’. So apparently the non-ornamental spelling would be “Säterberg”. How would this be written correctly in the runes used by swedish vikings?
Thank you for helping.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Hi Caleb. Svenska Akademiens ordbok points out:
seetther 1554 . sether 1548 ( : Seth(e)r ) — 1556 . setter 1543 — 1565 . säter (-th-) 1541 — 1582 . sätter (-æ- , -tth-) 1540 — 1563 )
[ fsv. säter , säther , n.; jfr fvn. setar , sæter , mlt. seter , mht. schet(t)er , ä. t. schetter ; ytterst av indiskt ursprung o. sammanhörande med sanskr. citrah , fläckig, brokig.
Wikipedia says: “The name for the common mountain pasture in most Scandinavian languages derives from the old Norse term setr. In Norwegian the term is sæter or seter, in Swedish säter. The place name appears in Sweden in several forms Säter and Sätra and as a suffix: -säter, -sätra, -sätt and -sättra. Those names appear extensively over Sweden with a centre in the Mälaren basin and in Östergötland.” Here they say that saeter is “a seasonally occupied herding station.”
So we know that the two elements of your second name appear to derive from Old Norse words setr and berg. In Swedish the combination of these gave Säterberg. I am not sure if earlier Old Norse form existed (that is whether Swedish Vikings actually could call someone by the combination of the above two elements; after all, second names as such emerged later in history). Can we reconstruct it in Old Norse as *Setrberg? I am not sure. Assistance of a specialist in Swedish etymology is needed: please contact someone with deeper knowledge in this field.
Even though the form Säterberg is later than the Viking Age, I would use this one to be written in runes. If not Swedish Vikings, their heirs would use the following sequence in short-twig runes: sól-ár-týr-ár-reið-bjarkan-ár-reið-kaun. You can type in “seterberg” (ä=e) in the converter above and choose “short-twig”.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Thank you very much, this is exactly what I was wondering. You’ve helped me a lot.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
You are welcome, Caleb. You may also want to look at authentic Viking Age runestones for inspiration.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I completely fell in love with the tales of the selkies the first time I heard them. I am designing a tattoo and would like to have the word selkie in runes as part of the design. I used the converter and prefer long branch aesthetically. I’ve done a bit of research about the tradition of the selkies especially in Orkney and I’m curious as to which type of runes would be most accurate for the stories.
Thank you for all the information!
September 19th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Hi Heather. Runic inscriptions from Maeshowe are perhaps the best known in Orkney. Most of the signs are long-branch type, but some resemble to short-twig. Please be aware that the word selkie is not Old Norse: it seems to be connected with the Scots word selk, from Old English seolh, ’seal’.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Hi I was looking into getting my last name translated and possibly getting a tattoo of it. I haven’t decided yet I am just kinda researching a little bit before I get it done. My last name is Schultz does anybody have any suggestions??
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 am
Hi Andrew. As far as I was able to find out, the surname Schultz is derived from the Middle High German word schulteize or schultheiße meaning the person in charge of collecting payments on behalf of the lord of the manor, mayor, or judge. The name was given to the head of a village. Since it is Middle High German, it was not used in Common Germanic language, when the Elder Futhark was in use. I believe that in such a case any type of runes may be used quite arbitrarily, since we do not try to reconstruct anything, we just use runic system to transcribe modern (or Middle High German) orthography.
September 24th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I just wanted to drop a quick line for a couple reasons. First, to say thanks for the multi-character transcriber.
Second, I wish that you, the author might put some sort of disclaimer somewhere in here. During a cursory scan, I didn’t see anything mentioned.
The following is an ENORMOUS pet peeve of mine that I see over and over again whenever transcription from English to Runic occurs: Many people think that by replacing English (Latin) letters with their Rune equivalents, that they are writing in a foreign language; Norse, Danish, Saxon, Viking, or whatever. This is absolutely not the case. It does not work this way. All you are doing is writing in English using different scribbles, and letters do not equal language. If I were to convert “I am walking to the store” into the Rune characters, no Viking, Saxon, Norseman, etc, would be able to read that. He might even chop my head off for putting such gibberish in front of him. Correct translation from English to any of the Runic languages requires 2 steps. First, you need to translate the phrase from English to the proper language, and THEN those words are written with their Runic characters.
I was at a Scandinavian festival where I saw a man making “Runestones” by simply converting English letters into Runic characters; things such as “Welcome to the So-and-so’s house”. But all he was doing was replacing character for character. You would think that at a Scandinavian festival that people would be wiser about the languages and their alphabets. Unfortunately not.
Anyway, thanks again for the site. I’d be interested in your comments regarding the translation issue above.
September 25th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Hi Jake. Thanks for your very pertinent comment. Please note that above the disclaimer concerning the converter reads: “Note that it does not translate the words themselves, it only converts letters into runes.” Thanks for drawing our visitors’ attention to this fact again.
September 26th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Hello!
I just found this blog, and have been having the most enjoyable time reading through the various postings. Thanks!
Like some of the other people here, I’d like to include runes into a tattoo. I’ve found a word that I would like to have: “trúa” which means “believe, trust, have faith in”. (‘m using the on-line University of Texas English-Old Norse dictionary.) My preference is for the long branch Younger Futhark.
When I use ‘trúa’ – with the thingie over the u – I get the runes tyr-reid-ar. But when I use ‘trua’ – without the thingie over the u – I get tyr-reid-ur-ar.
Would you have any advice on which is/would be/could be the more historically accurate?
(Alternatively, I could make my life easier and go for the Old West Norse word “tro” but then I’d probably choose the Elder Futhark for tyr-raido-oþila.)
Thanks!
October 10th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Hello Ken. Thanks for the feedback. The converter does not work with symbols specific for Scandinavian languages, only with the standard English alphabet. That’s why you get only three runes when you use “trúa”, since the ú is not converted. However, in the Younger Futhark the same rune is used for both short (u) and long (ú) sound. The correct sequence for trúa will be týr-reið-úr-ár.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Hi!
I (like many on this site) am looking for help with a tattoo to represent my viking heritage in the younger futhark. My nickname is Undead (as in zombie). i have researched and could not find a direct translation of the word to any Scandinavian language. I found a Norwegian word for zombie (Dorsk) and a reference to a Undead type creature in Nordic folklore (Draugr). But before i go getting a permanent marking in my flesh, i would love to know what your suggestion is for the most accurate and truest translation of this word. so i can then turn it into a runic tattoo.
Thanks so much!
Also, this site is amazing and it’s easily one of the most interesting web sites i come across in quite a long time.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Hi Wes. Draugr is not a translation of the word “undead” and not quite the same thing as zombie. However, it is a quite close Norse parallel to what we mean in most cases when we say “undead” or “zombie”. It is interesting that many modern Icelanders believe that draugar walk among them in the streets unnoticed.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Great website! I have been looking for information about runes and viking history, and this is the best resource for it, thank you for that!
When you have red about viking history, have you found out anything about that time “Finnish” people? Under the Swedish rule the southern part of Finland was called Österland, but what before that? Little piece of information what I found out was in wikipedia: “There is no evidence of a state-formation, although there are a few referrals to kings ruling in Finland in Norse sagas, usually considered untrustworthy.” What might these referrals are?
October 19th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Hi Samu. Thanks for the feedback. May be The World of Ladoga: Society, Trade, Transformation and State Building in the Eastern Fennoscandian Boreal Forest Zone C. 1000-1555 by Jukka Korpela, available at Google Books, would help.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I was wondering if what it puts up for “wolf” is accurate?
Can anyone help me out with this?
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:10 am
Hi Sean. The converter does not translate words, it only converts letters of the English alphabet into Germanic runes. Old Norse words for ‘wolf’ are úlfr and vargr.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:53 am
I want my full name translated (john neil wendel) only the “W” keeps showing as a “U” even though there is a rune for W. Please advise, Thanks
November 19th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Hi John. Proto-Norse had no opposition between v and w (Elder Futhark has w, but does not have v; it is not clear to what extent Elder Futhark w was close to modern English w). So in order to transliterate modern English words with w, we have to choose between runic v or u. In most cases u seems to be more appropriate, that’s why it is the default option. You may type in v instead.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I like most of the other people here want to get a tattoo of my last name and need help my family moved to the U.S. From Denmark and I want a tat that is unique to that even though I am watered down through 5 generations.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:41 am
this is incredibly useful! defenitly gona use this for the pocket watch design I’m making. thanks a ton
December 1st, 2009 at 11:39 am
Hi Ryan. Your last name literally means ’son of Christian’. For a runic presentation you would probably want to use its variant spelling Kristiansen.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Ok thanks I guess my next question is how will the english need to be converted to be most accurate to the denmark region
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:05 am
Perhaps your choice would be Danish or normal Younger Futhark runes, also known as Long Branch.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I’ve got a tattoo which features runes, it is a sprig of mistletoe with “is it safe?” (sans the question mark) written below in runes. I believe you all catch the reference.
December 5th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Im trying to find a rather long saying to have tattoed in runes and im having a hard time finding it. The saying is ” Valhöll awaits the brave.” Can you help me?
December 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am