The first time you try to say a rune out loud, you may hesitate. Is it “Fee-hoo” or “Fay-who”? Is that final rune “Othala” with a hard T or a soft one? You are in good company. The rune names come to us from languages that stopped being spoken more than a thousand years ago, so no living person has heard them said by a native speaker. What we have instead are careful reconstructions, and that turns out to be plenty to work with.
This page gives you all 24 rune meanings by name, a clear phonetic guide for each, and the small amount of history you need to say them with confidence. If you want the deeper story of the alphabet itself, our guide to the Elder Futhark covers where these symbols came from. Here, we are focused on the words: how they sound, what they mean, and why the pronunciations wobble a little from one source to the next.
Say them aloud as you read. That is honestly the fastest way to make them stick.
How the Rune Names Work
There is an elegant piece of logic hidden in the rune names, and once you see it, the whole alphabet gets easier to remember. Each rune’s name begins with the very sound that rune makes. This principle is called acrophony, and scribes across many ancient writing systems used it as a built-in memory aid.
Take Fehu, the first rune. Its sound value is “F,” and its name starts with F. Uruz makes a “U” sound and starts with U. Thurisaz gives you the “Th” sound and opens with it. The name is a tiny lesson in the letter, carried inside the word itself. If you learn the name, you have already learned the sound.
That is also why the alphabet is called a “futhark” rather than an ABC. Line up the first six runes (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz) and read off their opening sounds: F, U, Th, A, R, K. The system is named after its own beginning.
One honest caveat sits underneath all of this. The names themselves are scholarly reconstructions. No manuscript from the Elder Futhark period lists the runes with their names attached. Scholars pieced the names together by working backward from later rune poems, from the Younger Futhark and Anglo-Saxon traditions, and from the known meanings of related Germanic words. Fehu, for instance, is reconstructed from the Proto-Germanic word for cattle, which we can trace with real confidence. The names are educated, evidence-based reconstructions rather than guesses, and they are the best we have.
Rune Names and Pronunciation Chart
Keep this chart beside you when you practice. Each name links to its full meaning, so you can move from “how do I say it” to “what does it mean in a reading” whenever you are ready.
| Rune | Name | Pronunciation | Name Means |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᚠ | Fehu | FAY-who | cattle, wealth |
| ᚢ | Uruz | OO-rooz | aurochs (wild ox) |
| ᚦ | Thurisaz | THUR-ee-sahz | giant, thorn |
| ᚨ | Ansuz | AHN-sooz | a god, Odin |
| ᚱ | Raidho | RYE-though | riding, journey |
| ᚲ | Kenaz | KEN-ahz | torch |
| ᚷ | Gebo | GAY-boh | gift |
| ᚹ | Wunjo | WOON-yoh | joy |
| ᚺ | Hagalaz | hah-gah-LAHZ | hail |
| ᚾ | Nauthiz | NOW-theez | need |
| ᛁ | Isa | EE-sah | ice |
| ᛃ | Jera | YEH-rah | year, harvest |
| ᛇ | Eihwaz | AY-wahz | yew tree |
| ᛈ | Perthro | PER-throh | lot-cup |
| ᛉ | Algiz | AHL-geez | elk |
| ᛋ | Sowilo | soh-VEE-loh | sun |
| ᛏ | Tiwaz | TEE-wahz | the god Tyr |
| ᛒ | Berkano | bair-KAH-noh | birch |
| ᛖ | Ehwaz | EH-wahz | horse |
| ᛗ | Mannaz | MAH-nahz | man, humankind |
| ᛚ | Laguz | LAH-gooz | water |
| ᛜ | Ingwaz | ING-gwahz | the god Ing |
| ᛞ | Dagaz | DAH-gahz | day |
| ᛟ | Othala | oh-THAH-lah | heritage, home |
A few sounds trip people up. The “Th” in Thurisaz and Perthro is the soft “th” of “thorn,” not the hard “t” of “Tom.” The “J” in Jera behaves like an English “Y,” so it opens like “yellow.” And Sowilo often surprises newcomers, since that middle sound leans toward a “V,” giving you soh-VEE-loh rather than soh-WEE-loh.
Why Pronunciations Vary
Search three rune sites and you might find three slightly different spellings for the same rune. Sowilo shows up as Sowelo. Tiwaz appears as Tiewaz. Ingwaz is sometimes written Inguz. None of these sources is careless. They are all reaching back toward a word that no recording, no phonetic transcript, and no living speaker ever preserved.
The names are reconstructed from Proto-Germanic, a language that scholars have rebuilt by comparing its descendants: Old Norse, Old English, Gothic, and Old High German. When you rebuild a word this way, you get a very reliable skeleton and a few soft spots. The consonants tend to be solid. Certain vowels and the exact stress pattern are where reasonable experts land in slightly different places, which is how you end up with competing spellings.
So which version is right? All of them, more or less, and that is fine. What matters far more than hitting a mythical “perfect” pronunciation is choosing one consistent form and sticking with it. Consistency is what lets the names settle into your memory and lets you talk about runes with other readers without confusion. Aim for a good approximation, say it the same way every time, and you are doing exactly what the tradition asks of you.
If a friend says “Sowelo” and you say “Sowilo,” you both know precisely which rune you mean. That shared understanding is the real goal, and it is well within reach.
Tips for Learning the Rune Names
The names look intimidating on the page and feel much friendlier in the mouth. A little daily practice beats any amount of silent staring. Here is what works.
- Say each name out loud, twice. Reading a phonetic spelling is one thing. Hearing yourself produce the sound is what wires it into memory. Whisper them if you have to, but voice them.
- Learn them in aett groups of eight. The Elder Futhark splits into three families of eight runes, called aetts. Eight names at a time is a manageable bite, far easier than swallowing all 24 at once.
- Lean on acrophony. When you blank on a name, recall the sound the rune makes and let it hand you the opening syllable. The rune that makes “M” is Mannaz. The rune that makes “B” is Berkano.
- Use the daily draw. Pull one rune each morning, say its name aloud, and name what it means before you set it down. This single habit, repeated for a month, teaches the names and their meanings together without ever feeling like study.
Speaking the names is also its own quiet ritual. Many readers find that voicing a rune before a reading helps them shift focus and settle in. If you are ready to move from naming the runes to working with them, our guide on how to read runes walks you through your first casting. And if you want the full character-by-character breakdown of the writing system, the rune alphabet page lays out all 24 in order.
Give it a few weeks. Names that feel like tongue-twisters today will roll off easily, and you will wonder why they ever seemed hard.
Rune Names FAQ
What are the names of the runes?
The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark are Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, Wunjo, Hagalaz, Nauthiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Perthro, Algiz, Sowilo, Tiwaz, Berkano, Ehwaz, Mannaz, Laguz, Ingwaz, Dagaz, and Othala. Each name is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word, and each one begins with the sound its rune represents.
How do you pronounce the runes?
Use the phonetic chart above as your guide. As a rule, vowels are broad and open, “J” sounds like an English “Y,” and the “Th” in Thurisaz is the soft “th” of “thorn.” A handful of names carry a small surprise, such as Sowilo, which leans toward soh-VEE-loh. Since these are reconstructions, a close, consistent approximation is exactly what you are aiming for.
What do the rune names mean?
Every rune name is an ordinary word from the old Germanic world. Some are animals (Uruz the aurochs, Ehwaz the horse), some are forces of nature (Hagalaz the hail, Isa the ice), some are gods (Tiwaz for Tyr, Ingwaz for Ing), and some are human concerns (Gebo the gift, Mannaz humankind). The meaning is the doorway into how each rune reads in a spread, and the chart above links every name to its full interpretation.
Are the rune names authentic?
The names are authentic reconstructions, which is a meaningful distinction worth understanding. No surviving text from the Elder Futhark era lists the runes with their names written out. Scholars reconstructed them by working backward from later rune poems and related Germanic languages, and the evidence behind names like Fehu and Isa is strong. So while we cannot claim to know the exact ancient pronunciation down to the last vowel, the names themselves rest on solid historical footing.