Eugh. I really hope not. I hate the pseudo-Nordic culture in Skyrim. The faux Nordic accent they forced on the voice actors makes me want to crawl out of my skin every time I hear it.

And the names! Gods, the names. Skjor is one syllable away from shirt. Aela sounds more Greek to me, but she’s apparently super Nord. Bjornolfr is unique, I’ve never heard of someone named Bear-Wolf in real, but I don’t hate it. Benor is like “hair-partings”.

Surnames here also tend to come in a couple forms

• Patronyms, in Icelandic Matronyms are also common
  • Andersson
  • Sigurdsdottir
  • Svensson
  • Adamsdottir
• Noble names, these tend to reflect a coat of arms
  • Leijonhufvud (Lion’s Head)
  • Uggla (Owl)
• Educated people often adopted Latin names
  • Nobelius (see Alfred Noble)
  • Linnaeus
• Some are very natural in origin
  • Björk (Birch)
  • Almgren (Elm branch)
  • Bergfors (Mountain stream)

In the middle ages there were also by-names, where people were given a name to describe them. Like Jarl Karl the Deaf and his son Wolf the Horrible Son of Karl. Or a local (to me) figure, Erik the Lisping-and-Limping.