Geir
| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Word/name | Old Norse |
| Meaning | spear |
| Region of origin | Norway |
Geir is a masculine name commonly given in Norway and Iceland. It is derived from Old Norse geirr "spear", a common name element in Germanic names in general, from Proto-Germanic *gaizaz (whence also Old High German gêr, Old English gâr, Gothic gaisu).[1]
The popularity of the given name peaked in Norway during the 1950s to 1980s, with above 2% of newly born boys named Geir during the late 1960s to 1970s. As of 2014, the National statistics office of Norway recorded 22,380 men with the given name, or 0.9% of total male population.[2] The Old Norse spelling Geirr is also rarely given (89 individuals in Norway as of 2014).[2] Geir is also rarely given in Sweden and Denmark.[3]
While Geir was practically unused as a given name prior to the 1930s (and since the 2000s), -geir is the second element in a number of given names inherited from Old Norse, the most popularly given being Asgeir and Torgeir. These are a remnant of a much larger group of names including the geirr element in Old Norse.[4]
Notable people called Geir include:
- Geir Bjørklund (born 1969), Norwegian researcher, medical/health science writer, and editor
- Geir Digerud (born 1956), Norwegian cyclist
- Geir Gripsrud (born 1948), Norwegian organizational theorist
- Geir Haarde (born 1951), Prime Minister of Iceland (2006–2009)
- Geir Hafredahl (born 1962), Norwegian politician
- Geir Hallgrímsson (1925–1990), Prime Minister of Iceland (1974–1978)
- Geir Hasund (born 1971), Norwegian footballer
- Geir Helgemo (born 1970), Norwegian contract bridge player
- Geir Ivarsøy (1957–2006), Norwegian programmer at Opera Software
- Geir Jenssen (born 1962), Norwegian musician best known under the recording name Biosphere
- Geir Hansteen Jörgensen (born 1968), Swedish film director
- Geir Karlstad (born 1963), Norwegian speed skater, Olympic gold and bronze medalist
- Geir Lippestad (born 1964), Norwegian lawyer and politician
- Geir Moen (born 1969), Norwegian sprinter
- Geir Suursild (born 1994), Estonian rower
- Geir Sveinsson (born 1964), Icelandic handball player
- Geirr Tveitt (1908–1981), Norwegian composer
- Geir Zahl (born 1975), Norwegian musician
References
[edit]- ^ Latin gaesum, gaesus, Greek γαῖσον was the term for the lance of the Gauls. The Avestan language has gaêçu "lance bearer" as a likely cognate. The Celtic word is found e.g. in the name of the Gaesatae. Old Irish has gae "spear". Proto-Germanic *gaizaz would derive from proto-Indo-European language *ghaisos, although loan from Celtic has also been considered, in which case the PIE form would be *gaisos. The Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch has *g'haisos (with a palatal velar aspirate), discounting the Avestan form in favour of (tentatively) comparing Sanskrit hḗṣas- "projectile". The form gaois is read in an early Runic inscriptions on the so-called Mos spearhead, dated to the 3rd century, found in Stenkyrka, Gotland. Sven Birger Fredrik Jansson, The runes of Sweden, Bedminster Press, 1962, pp. iii-iv.
- ^ a b Statistisk Sentralbyrå, National statistics office of Norway, ssb.no.
- ^ Sweden: Det finns 313 män som har förnamnet Geir. Av dessa har 196 namnet Geir som tilltalsnamn. scb.se (as of 2014). Denmark: Mænd med navnet 'Geir' 2014: 79, 2015: 82. dst.dk.
- ^ nordicnames.de, citing Kristoffer Kruken, Ola Stemshaug, Norsk Personnamnleksikon (1995), Per Vikstrand, Förkristna sakrala personnamn i Skandinavien, Studia anthroponymica Scandinavica 27 (2009), 5–31, Lena Peterson, Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (2002).
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