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Why Are There So Many Rune Names?

Given that there are only 24 runes (in the Elder Futhark), it seems natural to ask why there is such a proliferation of rune names. Since no two books on the runes seem to use the same set of names, this is one thing that newcomers to the runes often find most confusing.

Had the usage of the runes been confined to a single country or region, there would not be such a multitude of rune names to cope with. The runes were however enormously popular and were in use throughout much of Northern Europe. Each society which embraced them gave them names in their local language. So the same rune could be Laguz in German, Logr in Old Icelandic (Norse) and Lagu in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) for example. Each of these names (and more!) is historically accurate and equally valid.

In addition it has to be recognised that there are transcription problems posed by rune names because these sometimes use characters which are not available to us today. A good example is Raiðo (the R-rune) which includes the "ð" character which is no longer in use but is usually rendered as a "d" in Modern English though it has a "th" sound. Hence there is considerable latitude in how this name is represented in Modern English - raido, raidho, raitho etc. Since the sound of runes is highly significant, what appears to be different rune names may in fact be merely varying ways to attempt to produce the same sound, such as Sowelu and Sowelo, for example.

Many modern authors on the runes have little or no understanding of the historical developments that led to the different names and so sometimes use combination of rune names in different languages that historically never co-existed. So you might have a Futhark beginning with Feoh (Old-English), Uruz (Germanic), Thurisaz (Germanic), Ass (Norse), Raidho (Germanic), Cen (Old-English), for example, and there are too many books which jumble the rune names in this way. This kind of mix-and-match approach to rune names leads to the impression that there are more rune name varations than there are. Moreover, in a few extreme cases, less-reputable authors have been known to simply invent rune names adding further to the confusion.