Geir Explained

Geir
Meaning:	spear
Region:	Norway
Origin:	Old Norse

Geir is a masculine name commonly given in Norway and Iceland. It is derived from Old Norse geirr "spear", a common name element in Germanic names in general, from Proto-Germanic

• gaizaz

(whence also Old High German gêr, Old English gâr, Gothic gaisu).^[1]

The popularity of the given name peaked in Norway during the 1950s to 1980s, with above 2% of newly born boys named Geir during the late 1960s to 1970s. As of 2014, the National statistics office of Norway recorded 22,380 men with the given name, or 0.9% of total male population.^[2] The Old Norse spelling Geirr is also rarely given (89 individuals in Norway as of 2014).^[2] Geir is also rarely given in Sweden and Denmark.^[3]

While Geir was practically unused as a given name prior to the 1930s (and since the 2000s), -geir is the second element in a number of given names inherited from Old Norse, the most popularly given being Asgeir and Torgeir. These are a remnant of a much larger group of names including the geirr element in Old Norse.^[4]

Notable people called Geir include:

• Geir Bjørklund (born 1969), Norwegian researcher, medical/health science writer, and editor
• Geir Digerud (born 1956), Norwegian cyclist
• Geir Gripsrud (born 1948), Norwegian organizational theorist
• Geir Haarde (born 1951), Prime Minister of Iceland (2006–2009)
• Geir Hafredahl (born 1962), Norwegian politician
• Geir Hallgrímsson (1925–1990), Prime Minister of Iceland (1974–1978)
• Geir Hasund (born 1971), Norwegian footballer
• Geir Helgemo (born 1970), Norwegian contract bridge player
• Geir Ivarsøy (1957–2006), Norwegian programmer at Opera Software
• Geir Jenssen (born 1962), Norwegian musician best known under the recording name Biosphere
• Geir Hansteen Jörgensen (born 1968), Swedish film director
• Geir Karlstad (born 1963), Norwegian speed skater, Olympic gold and bronze medalist
• Geir Lippestad (born 1964), Norwegian lawyer and politician
• Geir Moen (born 1969), Norwegian sprinter
• Geir Suursild (born 1994), Estonian rower
• Geir Sveinsson (born 1964), Icelandic handball player
• Geirr Tveitt (1908–1981), Norwegian composer
• Geir Zahl (born 1975), Norwegian musician

Notes and References

1. Latin gaesum, gaesus, Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γαῖσον was the term for the lance of the Gauls. The Avestan language has gaêçu "lance bearer" as a likely cognate. The Celtic word is found e.g. in the name of the Gaesatae. Old Irish has gae "spear". Proto-Germanic *gaizaz would derive from proto-Indo-European language *ghaisos, although loan from Celtic has also been considered, in which case the PIE form would be *gaisos. The Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch has *g'haisos (with a palatal velar aspirate), discounting the Avestan form in favour of (tentatively) comparing Sanskrit "projectile".The form gaois is read in an early Runic inscriptions on the so-called Mos spearhead, dated to the 3rd century, found in Stenkyrka, Gotland. Sven Birger Fredrik Jansson, The runes of Sweden, Bedminster Press, 1962, pp. iii-iv.
2. Statistisk Sentralbyrå, National statistics office of Norway, ssb.no.
3. Sweden: Det finns 313 män som har förnamnet Geir. Av dessa har 196 namnet Geir som tilltalsnamn. scb.se (as of 2014).Denmark: Mænd med navnet 'Geir' 2014: 79, 2015: 82. dst.dk.
4. http://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/GEIR nordicnames.de