Runic Translator (English to Elder Futhark Runes)

How to use the Elder Futhark translator

1. Type a name or short phrase. Runes were mostly used for names, short memorials and owner’s marks, so short text works best.
2. Pick the spelling method. “By sound” is the default and follows how runic inscriptions were actually spelled. “Letter by letter” swaps each English letter for one rune.
3. Choose a word separator. Many inscriptions ran words together or split them with one or two dots. The single dot ᛫ is the most common choice.
4. Copy the runes, or open the table. “Runes in your text” lists every rune you used with its name and sound, so you can check the result yourself.
5. Read runes back. Switch the direction to “Runes → English letters” and paste runes to see their standard transliteration.

How the Elder Futhark conversion works

The Elder Futhark is an alphabet, not a code. Each of its 24 runes stood for a sound in Proto-Norse and the early Germanic languages, which were spoken between about AD 150 and 700. This tool never “translates” your words into an ancient language. It spells the sounds of your text with runes, the same way a modern English name would be written in Greek or Cyrillic letters.

In “By sound” mode the tool applies these rules, in this order:

• th becomes ᚦ (þurisaz) and ng becomes ᛜ (ingwaz), because each of those sounds had its own rune.
• ph becomes ᚠ, ck becomes ᚲ, qu becomes ᚲᚹ and x becomes ᚲᛊ.
• c becomes ᛊ before e, i or y (as in Cecilia) and ᚲ everywhere else (as in Carl).
• y becomes ᛃ when a vowel follows it (Freya) and ᛁ when it acts as a vowel (Mary).
• v uses ᚹ, because the runic alphabet had no separate v.
• Double letters are written once. Anna becomes ᚨᚾᚨ. Rune carvers almost never doubled a rune, even when the sound was long.

Thor → th + o + r → ᚦ ᛟ ᚱ → ᚦᛟᚱ

“Letter by letter” skips these rules. It is useful if you want a result that maps back to the exact English spelling, but it produces spellings no Viking-age or earlier carver would have used, such as ᛏᚺᛟᚱ for Thor.

Elder Futhark alphabet chart

The 24 runes in their traditional order, with their reconstructed Proto-Germanic names. The names are not recorded in any inscription. Scholars rebuilt them from later rune poems in Old English, Old Norse and Old Icelandic, so the meanings of a few (perþō in particular) are still debated.

The runes were traditionally grouped into three rows of eight, called ættir (singular ætt). The first row is named after fehu, the second after hagalaz and the third after tīwaz.

Examples

Norse gods

Odin becomes ᛟᛞᛁᚾ, Thor becomes ᚦᛟᚱ and Freya becomes ᚠᚱᛖᛃᚨ. These are modern English spellings written in runes. In the Viking Age, Odin’s name was Óðinn and it would have been written in the Younger Futhark, which our Younger Futhark Translator handles.

Modern names

Sophia becomes ᛊᛟᚠᛁᚨ, because ph is one sound. Christopher becomes ᚲᚱᛁᛊᛏᛟᚠᛖᚱ. The ch at the start is a k sound, so it becomes a single ᚲ, and ph becomes ᚠ. If a name is spelled very differently from how it sounds, type it the way it sounds (for example “Kristofer”) and compare.

Short phrases

“Ragnar Lothbrok” with the dot separator becomes ᚱᚨᚷᚾᚨᚱ᛫ᛚᛟᚦᛒᚱᛟᚲ. The real inscriptions this alphabet is known from are short, often a single name with a word such as “made” or “wrote”, so long sentences look unusual in runes.

Before you use runes for a tattoo or engraving

Check three things before you make anything permanent. First, decide whether you want the Elder Futhark at all. If you are honouring a Viking ancestor, the Younger Futhark matches their time better, and for an Anglo-Saxon name the Anglo-Saxon Runes Translator is the right row. Second, spell the name by sound, not by modern English letters. Third, read your result back with the “Runes → English letters” direction and compare it with the chart above. Our guide on How to Write Your Name in Runes (and Avoid Common Mistakes) walks through the common mistakes.

Where the Elder Futhark comes from

The oldest widely accepted runic inscriptions date from the 2nd century AD. One of the best known is the Vimose comb from Denmark, which carries the word harja. The full 24-rune row survives on the Kylver stone from Gotland, carved around AD 400. By about AD 800, Scandinavians had cut the alphabet down to the 16-rune Younger Futhark, while in England it grew into the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. The Elder Futhark was then forgotten until scholars deciphered it again in the 19th century.