A few more clarifications on the swift-axe issues.

> 1. The name 'Snarøx' is recommended, but sounds strange to most people
> who speak Icelandic.

I don't know how it sounds to most people who speak Icelandic.
I haven't made a survey. My problem is that I can't recall or
find an instance where an adjective meaning 'swift' is applied
to a weapon. Weapons tend to be 'tall', 'gilded', 'bloody',
'hard', 'dark', 'sharp' etc. but I don't remember 'swift'.

And if the compound is to be used as a byname with the implication
that it is the wielder of the axe (presumably any axe) that is actually
swift that requires a whole new, well, assumption. I don't feel that
one to be obviously correct either. It's not obviously incorrect,
I'd just like to see something analogous.

> 2. Snarøx = SNAR in the English world 'snarl' and UE pronounced at the
> same time with the U short and the E long, and then the X like the CH in
> Bach or loch, but not CK in lock or kick. It's a softer sound than K,
> like you're snoring softly.

No. The Icelandic 'x' is composed of two sounds and only the first one is
as you're describing. The second is, more or less, an [s]. The 'r' in the
Icelandic word is not like the 'r' in "snarl". I can't say whether your
vowel description is correct since I don't understand it.

> I'd suggest a
> name like Hawk (Haukur) or Thor's Stone (Thorsstein), as these are much
> easier and have a more historic basis, which makes name justification at
> Laurel level much easier, as these were (and largely, still are) fairly
> common names.

The Old Norse spelling of the above names is Haukr and Þorsteinn respectively.

> As for the Spanish trill, it's typical for them to
> say all R's with a slight trill,

Hmm... Well, I'm told it's mostly the double 'r' that's trilled
and the single 'r' is more like a flap. Thus the Old Norse 'r'
corresponds to the Spanish 'rr' in "forro" rather than the 'r'
in "foro". Maybe "Spanish r" was misleading... (How about "Scots r"?)
But I don't really speak Spanish. Maybe Óskar will tell me his perception...

Kveðja,
Haukur

P.S. One more thing. The only Old Norse version of the name
of the fair-haired king that I'm aware of is 'Haraldr'
(and, yes, the 'r' is there and it isn't silent).