ICELANDIC HORSE NAMES
All Icelandics should have proper Icelandic names. These can be ancient names from
the Viking sagas, names based on the horse´s colour or markings, people´s names, names
of the Gods or names from nature.
The Icelandic alphabet has several "different" letters, and it does not
have a C, a Q, an X or a Z at all. The letters you may not recognise are Ţ,ţ, pronounced
"th", and Đ,đ, also pronounced "th" but more softly. Then there´s
Ć,ć, pronounced "eye", Ö,ö, pronounced "oe", É,é, pronounced
"ye", Í,í, and Ý,ý, both pronounced "eee", Ó,ó, pronounced
"o" as in "go", and Á,á, pronounced "ow". The J is always
pronounced like a Y. EI sounds like the "ay" in "bay".
Mares´names usually end in "a", like Rúna. Stallions or geldings names
often end in "i" or "ur". But this rule is not always applied!
Here are the names of some horses, with their meanings:
Árvakur - he who wakes up early
Sölvi - sea god
Rák - groove (she has a narrow blaze)
Hetja - heroine
Heiđur - honour (son of a World Championship finalist)
Brúnka - brown mare
Reifur - lively and glad boy
Skuggi - shadow (he´s a blue dun)
Ţrá - hope and desire (Mic's first silver dapple mare)
Ísafold - a poetic name for Iceland, or an Icelandic mare
Randalín - little girl in a stripy dress (she´s a chestnut skewbald)
Faxi - mane (this lad is pale dun skewbald with a black forelock and white mane)
Dögun - dawn. Another silver dapple mare.
Kalsi - shiver of cold (he´s dapple grey)
Árdís - goddess of prosperity
Tíbrá - mirage (she´s "glóbrúnn", a weird golden brown colour)
Fáni - flag or banner (he holds his tail very high when he trots)
Kosning - election or choice (she was born on the local election day)
Drift - cleverness
Mólda - earth coloured mare (she´s a dun)
Lundi - puffin (for a piebald)
Elding - lightning