To begin with, I want will post some personal names where folk were
simply called after the names of folk, tribes, etc.. Indeed, it was
my mention of the folk Englar which prompted me to try to share some
of this information on Norse Course. Now, irrespective of to tribe or
small nation of the name-barer, folk across the north were named
after the proper names of tribes, Germanic or otherwise, likely in
the belief that the noble qualities of that folk would be confered
upon the name bearer. Our attested masculines are: Finnr, Vendill (or
alternately Vandill without i-mutation) , Varinn, Throndr (long o, or
alternately Thrandr, long a), Raumr, Goti, Gautr, Hodr (hooked-o,
edh), Hordr (hooked-o, edh), Joti (long o), Engill (possibly
alternating with the form Ongull, hooked-o, which is otherwise a hook-
name, of which there are many), Eistr, Saxi (Saksi), Danr. Are
attested feminines are only Finna and Dana. Let me mention that
mideaval sources are highly male-biased, and tend to entirely ignore
women's names, which were after the introduction of Christianity also
decimated by comparison to the male names, which were also severely
wounded. So I am going to to my best to rectify the situation here,
as elsewhere in my discussion of names, and show our female ancestors
the same respect as the males by doing my best to reconstruct their
names. From the male equivalents, we get: Vendla, Thronda, Rauma,
Gota, Gauta, *Hada (a possible o-stem formation here, of which their
are feminine examples from masculine u- or i-stems, about which
later), *Harda (same), Jota, Engla, Eista, Saxa. Unattested are:
*Svii and a host of names for small nations in Norway other than
Raumr, Hordr, Throndr, Hodr. A.B. Magnusson mentions a possible Agdi,
man from Adgir, but it is in a Saga of Olden Times, and could be a
late weak-formation, although a strong probably once existed. It does
seem that one could be called after any tribe that was deemed to have
noble qualities, Germanic or otherwise. Not that all 3 of the 3 large
Germanic groups settling England are represent in ON personal names:
Joti, Saxi, Engill, beside also Vendill (same geography). As usual,
many of the strong names could otherwise occure weak in ON, although
other Germanic languages do not attest this alternation in anything
close to the same degree, prefering the one or the other. Thus also:
Gauti, Finni, Raumi, Eisti (all attested). Eistr and Eisti occur
several times in Swedish inscriptions, and the name refers to the
inhabitants of Eistland, modern Estonia, who are related to the
Finns. Likely due to geography, the names appear to have been more
frequent in Sweden and Gautland, although likely also Denmark. Let me
note that Finnr (Fidr in alder sources, nnr-dr) refers in Old West
Norse tradition not to the modern Finns of Finnland, but to the Sami,
whose homeland, Finnmork, is mostly in modern Norway, but also partly
in modern Sweden and Finnland. Finnr is the ON word for Sami. The
singulars of many other tribal names would also have occured here,
although we do not always know what they were, even if some can be
recontructed. Examples from Old Norwegian kingdoms are: Thilir (folk
from Thelamork), Heidnir (from Heidmork), Renir (from Ranariki),
Grenir, (from Grenland), Rygir (from Rogaland), Sygnir (from Sogn),
etc.. Norway is richest here due to the large number of originally
small, independent kingdoms, and Sweden poorer, likely doe to the
much earlier consolidation of older, and only theoretical, kingdoms
into two nations, Svithjod (or Sviariki, Sviaveldi, Svialand) and
Gautland, east and west. Perhaps the area was simply originally
settled by tribes that were much larger, and took up more space, than
the smaller tribes in Norway. But on that note, many different tribal
names survive from Denmark, and Denmark is quite small, but fertile.
Enough for now. But try to think about these names in the lost
context of ON culture. They did made sense to the ON, and were often
very common, even if their descendants are seldom, if ever, simply
called Swede, Englishman, Icelander, Dane, Norseman, Frenchman or
what have ye. The context was heathen then, and reflected a very
different view of the world.