indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Old Norse name of obscure origin, possibly from Proto-Norse *auja "good fortune, gift, (luck) giver" or *aiwa "always".
This also coincides with the Icelandic word eyja meaning "island", from Old Icelandic ey (which 'is also used as a poetic circumlocution for "woman", and in poetical diction ey is personified as a goddess, the sea being her girdle, the glaciers her headgear').
However, according to the Cleasby-Vigfússon dictionary, while -ey (as in Bjargey, Laufey, Þórey) could be connected to the Old Icelandic word ey "island", this name element comes from a different source when it appears in the first position (as Ey- or, before a vowel, Eyj-).
This also coincides with the Icelandic word eyja meaning "island", from Old Icelandic ey (which 'is also used as a poetic circumlocution for "woman", and in poetical diction ey is personified as a goddess, the sea being her girdle, the glaciers her headgear').
However, according to the Cleasby-Vigfússon dictionary, while -ey (as in Bjargey, Laufey, Þórey) could be connected to the Old Icelandic word ey "island", this name element comes from a different source when it appears in the first position (as Ey- or, before a vowel, Eyj-).