If you have kids, you probably know the importance of putting tag marks with the name of your kid onto their clothes, on their toys, food boxes, backpacks and basically everything they own. You probably have tag marks on some of your stuff too. Perhaps you have written your name and phone number in your note book. We do this so, if we ever lose it, we can get it back if someone finds it.

This is actually not a new thing. From the Medieval period we have lots of wooden rune sticks, so-called name tag sticks, with inscriptions like “NN owns me”. They could be whittled in such a way that it was possible to hang the mark on something, for example on a backpack, a bag or other loose object, or it could be carved into objects like combs, toys or other useful objects.

First line is the runes, the bold text indicates the runes translated into roman letters, the cursive text indicates the transliteration into old Norse and the last line is the translation to English.

Here are some of my favorites:

This name tag stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and has been dated to the years between 1175 and 1225. You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

ᚢ ᚱ ᛉ ᚱ ᛆ ᛌ ᛁ ᚴ
u r m r a s e k
Ormr á sekk
Ormr owns the bag

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This name tag stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and has been dated to the years between 1275-1325. It has rune inscriptions on two sides (a-side and b-side). The two last rune on the a-side are so called ‘binderune’. That means the two runes share stave but are read as two runes. You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

a: ᚦ ᛐ ᚱ ᛆ : ᛆ : ᛉ ᛁ ᚴ : ᚮ ᚴ ᚼ ᚮᚿ
b: ᚴ ᛁ ᚱ ᚦ ᛁ ᛉ ᛁ ᚴ

a: + þ o r a : a m i k : o k h on
b: k i r þ i m i k

a: Þóra á mik ok hon
b: gerði mik

a: Tora owns me and
b: she made me

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This stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and is dated to the years between 1225-1275. The two first runes are so called ‘binderune’ which means that they share the stave, but are read as two separate runes. You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

ᛆᚱ ᚿ ᛁ ᛆ
ar n i a
Árni á
Árni owns

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This stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and is dated to the years between 1225-1275. It has rune inscriptions on two sides (a-side and b-side). You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

a: ᚴ ᚢ ᚿ ᛆᚱ ᛆ
b: ᛆ

a: k u n ar a
b: a

a: Gunnarr á
b: á

a: Gunnar owns
b: owns (?)

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This stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and is dated to the years between 1150-1225. It has rune inscriptions on two sides (a-side and b-side). The second and third runes and the 11th and 12th runes in the b-line are so called ‘binderune’ which means that they share the stave, but are read as two separate runes. You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

a: ᛒ ᛆ ᚱ ᚦ ᚱ ᛆ
b: ᚼ ᛆᛚ ᛚ ᚴ ᚱ ᛁ ᛉ ᛌ ᚮᚿ ᚱ

a: b a r þ r a
b: h al l k r i m s s on r

a: Bárðr á.
b: Hallgrímsson

a: Bård owns
b: Hallgrimsson

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This name tag was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim and is dated to the years between 1175-1225. You can read a more detailed interpretation of it made by Jan Ragnar Hagland here.

ᚦ ᛁ ᚢ ᚦ ᛆ ᚱ ᛆ
þ i u þ a r ÷ a
Þjóðarr á.
Tjodar owns

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This comb was found in Søndre gate 10 in Trondheim city center and is dated to the first half of the 1000’s. The runes is carved on a comb of reindeer horns. They are sadly not visible in the picture. You can see barley see some of the, but they are very hard to read. The inscription is interpreted like this:


a: ᚴ ᛆ ᛉ ᛒ ᚱ : ᚴ ᚢ ᚦ ᚱ ᚢ ᛆ ᛋ ᛁ ᛆ
b: ᛁ ᚠ ᛁ(?) ᚱ ᛆ

a: k a m b r : k u þ r u a s i a
b: i f i(?) r a

a: Kambr góðr vási á
b: Ívarr á

a: A good comb against tangles (?)
b: Ivar owns

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This name tag stick was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Trondheim city center and is dated to the years between 1175-1225. The inscription has been transliterated and interpreted by Jan Ragnar Hagland as so:

ᚦ ᚮ ᚱ ᚴ ᛁ ᛌ ᛚ ᛆ
þ o r k i s l a
Þorgísl á
Thorgísl owns

All pictures are borrowed from Collections Online.


Would you start tagging your things like this? I know I would!
Have a lovely day!