By Chris Ayliffe, Arctic Meta
Icelandic place names can look like someone scattered consonants (and some random made up letters) across a map and declared the work complete. Once you understand a few common words, however, the apparent chaos begins to make sense.
Names such as Reykjavík, Jökulsárlón and Snæfellsnes describe smoke, glaciers, lagoons, mountains and coastlines. Others preserve the memory of Viking settlers, historic farms, local tragedies and creatures that supposedly turned to stone after forgetting to check the sunrise (classic!).
Learning these meanings changes how you travel with road signs becoming clues, landscapes becoming stories, and long Icelandic words feel slightly less like somebody conceived them after one too many beers.
How Icelandic Place Names Are Built
Icelandic place names are often compound words that I more like to think of as language lego. Several shorter terms are joined together, with the main geographical feature usually appearing at the end.
Snæfellsnes is a useful example. Snær relates to snow, fell to mountain, and nes to peninsula or headland. Together, the name can be understood as the peninsula of the snow mountain (it has a mega glacier called Snæfellsjökull which was what inspired Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth).
Grammar makes the process slightly more complicated. Icelandic words change form (conjugate) depending on how they are used, which if you are a native English speaker can make this connections more difficult to comprehend.
A great example I often throw out to family in the UK is that of the classic tongue twister, Eyjafjallajökull (not that hard when you get used to it). Eyja means island, fjall means mountain, and jökull is glacier. So directly translating it is ‘island mountain glacier’. You can see how they often have as direct a description as you can get.
The name is still a mouthful, but at least it is now an organised mouthful.
The easiest approach is often to identify the final word first. It usually reveals whether the place is a waterfall, valley, glacier, bay or mountain.
Common Icelandic Place Name Words and Their Meanings
A small vocabulary unlocks a surprising amount of the Icelandic map.
Foss means waterfall, while fossar is the plural. You’ll spot these commonly in Gullfoss, Skógafoss and Hraunfossar.
Á means river, vatn means water or lake, and lón refers to a lagoon. Jökull means glacier, while fjall and fell both refer to mountains.
Dalur means valley. Hraun means lava, hver means hot spring, and laug refers to a warm bathing pool.
Vík means bay or cove. Fjörður means fjord, höfn means harbour, and nes describes a peninsula or headland.
You better be writing these down!
Sandur means sand or sandy plain, while fjara refers to the shore/beach. These words appear frequently along the South Coast, where black sand and exposed beaches are hardly rare events (e.g., the classic Reynisfjara black sand beach).
Bær can mean farm or town. Staðir refers to places or farmsteads, and kirkja means church.
Water words are especially common because Iceland has an impressive supply of rivers, glacial melt and waterfalls. Their origins are explored further in one of my previous guides if you’re curious: why Iceland has so many waterfalls.
Famous Icelandic Place Names Explained
Reykjavík means Smoky Bay. Reykja refers to smoke or steam, while vík simply means bay. The name is generally linked to geothermal steam rising near the early settlement.
Þingvellir means Assembly Plains. Þing refers to an assembly, and vellir means fields or plains (you must be getting the hang of this Lego by now). The name reflects the area’s role as the historic meeting place of the Icelandic parliament.
Jökulsárlón means glacial river lagoon. Jökuls means of the glacier, á means river, and lón means lagoon. The translation is admirably direct for a place that looks genuinely like CGI (bonus info: James Bond: Die Another Day has an iconic scene filmed there).
Húsavík means Bay of Houses (pretty random I know). Hafnarfjörður can be understood as Harbour Fjord, while Ísafjörður means Ice Fjord. And no, I don’t think the early Vikings were simply uninventive.
Here’s another quickfire round: Gullfoss means Golden Waterfall. Goðafoss means Waterfall of the Gods. Kirkjufell means Church Mountain, named for a shape thought to resemble a church steeple.
Understanding these names adds context to familiar attractions. It can also make locations featured in film and television easier to remember, including those in this guide to Game of Thrones locations in Iceland (and if used poorly, can simply enable you to be that obnoxious guy at the next dinner party).
Fire, Ice and Water Hidden in Iceland’s Names
Iceland’s geology dominates its language.
Names containing hraun point towards the old familiar local friend that is lava. For instance, Hraunfossar means Lava Waterfalls, describing streams that emerge from beneath a lava field.
Reykjanes means Smoky Peninsula. The name reflects a region of geothermal landscapes, old lava fields and volcanic systems. It is now more commonly known as the most volcanically active region of Iceland since the first 2020 eruption.
Hveravellir means Hot Spring Fields. Landmannalaugar is usually translated as the Pools of the People, referring to the warm geothermal bathing areas found there.
Whereas, to spot glacial names look out for names ending in jökull. Langjökull means Long Glacier, while Snæfellsjökull means the glacier of the snow mountain (maybe that will make it into Harry Potter 8).
These meanings become especially vivid during winter, when ice, snow and dark skies dominate the scenery.
On the other hand, summer reveals a different version of the same landscape. Rivers swell with meltwater, highland roads open and the long daylight allows considerably more time for scenic detours.
Vikings, Settlers and Sagas on the Icelandic Map
Not every Icelandic place name describes a natural feature. Many contain the names of settlers, farmers, saga characters, and landowners.
A farm might be named after the person who established it. Nearby valleys, rivers or headlands could then inherit the same name, which I assume is not a thing just to confuse Google Maps.
Names ending in staðir often follow this pattern. Egilsstaðir (biggest town in the East) means the places or farmsteads of Egill.
Hjörleifshöfði (it has the cool Yoda Cave as part of it), near Vík, combines the personal name Hjörleifur with höfði, meaning headland. The name connects the landscape with an early settler remembered in accounts of Iceland’s settlement.
Þórsmörk means Thor’s Woodland or Thor’s Forest (not Chris Hemsworth). Þór refers to the Norse god Thor, while mörk describes woodland or a border region. It’s a really epic region to check out if you are stopping by in the summer.
These names show that Iceland was never simply an empty wilderness. It was a working landscape divided, crossed and remembered by generations of farmers. Some of those rural traditions remain visible during réttir, the annual sheep roundup.
Farms, Churches and Modern Town Names
Many Icelandic towns grew from farms, trading posts or small coastal communities. Their names often preserve those origins.
Borgarnes contains nes, meaning peninsula or headland. The first element is associated with Borg, a historic farm in the region (it also means city).
Reykholt combines reyk, meaning steam or smoke, with holt, a word used for a small hill or raised area.
Stykkishólmur contains hólmur, meaning a small island or islet. Grundarfjörður ends with fjörður, immediately identifying its coastal location (you guessed it, a fjord).
Kirkjubæjarklaustur, as well as being a fantastic wifi password, also combines kirkja, meaning church, bær, meaning farm, and klaustur, meaning convent or monastery. I think this is more of a tongue twister for tourists (say that sentence 10x faster five times).
You can see how all of the obvious descriptive factors and natural elements has crafted almost all of the major names you’ll find in Iceland. I often try making a few of my own up when seeing an unusually unique section of this landmass.
Trolls, Giants and Folklore
Some Icelandic place names describe visible geography. But others require a healthy tolerance for trolls and folklore that some interesting individuals still believe in.
Reynisdrangar, the sea stacks beside Reynisfjara, are linked to a story about trolls trying to drag a wrecked ship ashore. However, tragically they failed to notice the approaching sunrise and were turned to stone (if I had a krona for every time that happened to me…).
Dyrhólaey contains a reference to a doorway, reflected by the enormous sea arch cutting through the headland.
Snæfellsnes is associated with Bárður Snæfellsás, a legendary figure described as part human and part troll (not Wayne Rooney). He became known as a guardian of the peninsula.
Stories like these helped communities explain dramatic or dangerous places. They also encouraged respect for landscapes where poor decisions could have serious consequences.
More examples appear in our awesome guide of trolls, giants and ghost stories from South Iceland (I swear they are all genuine from great lore of the past from this windy rock).
Why Literal Translations Can Be Misleading
Literal translations are useful, but they rarely reveal the full story.
A name may preserve an old meaning that has changed over time. It may refer to a farm that no longer exists, a forgotten settler or a landscape altered by erosion, flooding or volcanic activity (you can see where some of the interesting folklore comes from).
Grammar can also make direct translations sound awkward, such as Eyjafjallajökull (island mountain glacier) that I explained previously.
Some elements have several meanings. Borg can refer to a fortress, rocky hill or named farm, depending on context. Holt may describe woodland, a hill or raised ground. Having a strong grasp of the Icelandic language and grammar, unfortunately, is the only hack to understand this properly.
Treat translations as clues rather than perfect English labels (also Google Translate and AI are pretty off it when it comes to grammar). Their real value comes from combining language, history and geography.
How to Pronounce Icelandic Place Names (the main challenge)
Long names become easier when divided into smaller parts.
Eyja fjalla jökull is less intimidating than Eyjafjallajökull presented as one uninterrupted wall of letters. Phonetically speaking for an English speaker, focus on something close to this: Eh-ya-fyatlla-yukutll (or ‘Eh! I forgot the yogurt’ really quickly’ is another classic way of learning this fun name).
The letter Þ is pronounced like the th in thing. Ð is usually closer to the th in this. Icelandic J normally sounds like the English Y.
Æ sounds similar to the English word eye. Ö is a rounded vowel without a precise English equivalent (my German friends can help you out here). Stress falls on the first syllable, but I would further explain that it has the ‘ughhh’ sound you might make when seeing your daughter’s diaper gift for the first time.
Perfect pronunciation is not expected from every visitor. A respectful attempt is generally better than renaming the place as that waterfall near the petrol station (and don’t ask me to give you a suitable direct translation for that phrase!).
Reading Icelandic Road Signs
Recognising place name elements can make self driving easier.
A sign ending in fjörður suggests a coastal destination within a fjord. A name containing dalur may lead into a valley, while sandur can indicate a wide sandy plain (usually flat).
Foss reveals a waterfall. Jökull signals glacial terrain, while hver or laug points towards geothermal activity.
These clues help you form a basic picture of the route, but they cannot replace weather forecasts or road information (plus under bad conditions there is nothing more annoying than the person with the phone guessing what the next destination will be like based on my guide…unless it’s me, of course). Iceland enjoys reminding visitors of that distinction.
Place Name Meanings in South Iceland
South Iceland offers some of the clearest examples of descriptive naming.
Vík means bay. Its fuller name, Vík í Mýrdal, means the bay in Mýrdalur. Mýr refers to marsh or bog, while dalur means valley (with Mýrdalsjökull the neighbouring glacier).
Reynisfjara ends in fjara, meaning shore or beach. Reynisdrangar contains drangar, meaning isolated rock pillars or sea stacks.
Skógafoss combines skógur, meaning forest, with foss, meaning waterfall. Seljalandsfoss is the waterfall associated with Seljaland.
Hveragerði means Garden of Hot Springs. Hver refers to geothermal springs, while gerði means an enclosed area or garden.
You can start to see how some contain simple rules you can re-read this guide with and make notes, and others take a lot more research or language learning.
The South Iceland lodges at the Panorama Glass Lodge provide access towards Hekla, Vík, Landmannalaugar and the southern highlands where you can guess what to expect (rather than Google) on your day trips from our lovely Viking retreats.
The Alva lodge looks towards Hekla volcano (yep, it’s active) and the surrounding landscape. Hekla shares its name with an old word for a hooded cloak, often linked to the clouds gathering around its summit.
Experiencing the Landscapes Behind the Names
Understanding Icelandic place names encourages slower and more observant travel.
Waterfalls become connected to forests, farms and local stories. Valleys reveal what once grew there, while coastal towns explain their relationship with bays, harbours and headlands.
A route might follow geothermal names from Reykjavík towards Reykholt. Another could trace foss names along the South Coast or jökull names towards the great ice caps of Vatnajökull National Park.
It’s also a gateway to the minds of the early settlers, and the logic of understanding the various territories and terrains. Treating Icelandic place names as mini-portals to earlier Viking times can bring your trip to life that much more.
Staying Close to the Story at the Panorama Glass Lodge
The South and West Iceland locations of the Panorama Glass Lodge sit among many of the landscapes described in these names.
The southern location offers access towards Hekla, Vík and the highlands. The western location opens routes towards Snæfellsnes, Borgarfjörður and Langjökull.
Our glass lodges include options for couples and families. The private hot tubs allow guests to remain connected with the landscape long after the day’s driving ends (I’d recommend a cheeky beer or two also).
The glass-covered sleeping areas keep the sky and scenery visible during winter darkness and the bright nights of summer. The landscape does not disappear simply because your boots have finally stopped leaking across every dalur, foss, hraun, jökull or vík the eye can see.
Further details about facilities and lodge differences are available in our frequently asked questions.
How Understanding the Names Changes the Journey
Icelandic place names reveal how settlers understood the country and how later communities remembered faith, danger, mythology and daily work.
They also make Iceland feel less like a collection of isolated attractions. Waterfalls connect with rivers, farms connect with valleys, and mountains connect with stories carried across generations (yes, including trolls).
You may still hesitate before saying Kirkjubæjarklaustur aloud (most normal people do). That is entirely reasonable. Yet you will know the name contains a church, a farm and a convent (because you read this article cover to cover like a legend), which is far more interesting than treating it as a random password or something you shout when you next stub your toe.
Once the map begins to speak, Iceland becomes a story written across lava, ice, water and open land through the eyes of the first settlers who saw and claimed it as their own.
Common Questions About Icelandic Place Names
Why are Icelandic place names so long?
Many are compound words made from several shorter terms. Each part adds information about the landscape, history or people connected with the location.
What does vík mean?
Vík means bay or cove. It appears in Reykjavík, Húsavík, Ólafsvík and Vík.
What does foss mean?
Foss means waterfall. The plural form is fossar.
What does jökull mean?
Jökull means glacier. It appears in Vatnajökull, Langjökull and Snæfellsjökull, and many more.
What does Reykjavík mean?
Reykjavík means Smoky Bay, referring to geothermal steam seen near the early settlement.
Are Icelandic place names translated on road signs?
Most signs use the original Icelandic names. Recognising a few common roots is more useful than expecting an English translation.
Is it worth learning place name meanings before visiting?
Yes. Even a small vocabulary can help you understand maps, remember destinations and recognise the landscape described by each name.