If you’ve searched for troll names in Norse mythology, you’re probably hoping for a neat list of famous trolls. e.g., named characters, like Odin or Thor, with clear stories and identities.

What you’ll quickly discover is that the medieval sources don’t really work that way.

In Old Norse literature and later Norwegian and Scandinavian tradition, the troll is often more of a category than a character: a label for dangerous supernatural beings, mountain monsters, or uncanny outsiders.

A few troll names do exist in historical material, but they are rare, and they often appear in very specific contexts.

This article lays out what we can actually document from primary sources, Icelandic manuscripts, and academic scholarship, without making up modern fantasy lists.

Troll Names in Norse Mythology: Do Trolls Have Real Names?

The first thing to understand is that troll names are not abundant in medieval Norse myth.

In most Old Norse texts, a troll is not introduced like a god or hero. Instead, the troll appears as “a troll woman,” “a mountain troll,” or simply a hostile presence in the wilderness.

Scholars emphasize that the troll is often defined by its opposition to gods and humans, rather than by a stable identity (Jakobsson, 2017, pp. 12–13).

In other words, we need to approach the topic carefully:

The sources preserve only a handful of actual troll names, and many modern lists quietly substitute giant names instead.

The troll is less a person, more a threat, i.e., a figure of the outside.

Troll Folklore vs Old Norse Myth: What Does the Word Troll Mean?

In modern Scandinavian culture, everyone knows what a troll is: a hulking creature with stubby arms and legs, lurking in forests or caves.

But the medieval word troll (trǫll) is far broader.

It can refer to:

• monstrous supernatural beings
• witches or sorcerers
• giant-like enemies
• uncanny outsiders

Ármann Jakobsson stresses that trolls in medieval texts are flexible categories rather than a single species, which is why naming is inconsistent (Jakobsson, 2017, pp. 18–20).

That’s why trolls are also hard to separate cleanly from other beings in Germanic mythology. The troll belongs to mythology and folklore, not a tidy monster taxonomy.

Trolls in the Prose Edda: Snorri and the Mythic Troll World

One of the most important medieval sources for Norse myth is Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda.

Snorri preserves stories of giants, monsters, and enemies of the gods, but trolls appear mostly as part of the broader monstrous world rather than as named individuals.

The prose edda gives us mythic landscapes filled with hostile beings, forces of nature opposing the Æsir and the Norse gods.

Snorri’s system is valuable, but it does not provide a catalog of troll names.

Instead, it shows trolls in Norse mythology as part of the mythic “outside.”

This is why the question of famous trolls is complicated: the texts do not treat trolls like personal characters.

Are Trolls Just Jötnar? Giants, Trolls, and Overlapping Categories

Many readers assume trolls are separate from giants, but in Old Norse texts the boundary is blurry.

Terms like jötnar and jötunn overlap heavily with troll mythology. Many beings modern readers would call trolls are labeled giants instead.

Jakobsson explains that trolls often represent “the other” in opposition to gods and humans, and that naming conventions reflect this fluidity (Jakobsson, 2017, pp. 12–13).

So if you want a “type of troll,” you often end up discussing giants.

This overlap is one reason why troll names in medieval myth are scarce: the troll is not always a distinct category.

Grýla the Troll Woman: The Most Famous Named Troll in Icelandic Tradition

If there is one genuinely attested named troll figure, it is Grýla.

Grýla is a troll woman associated with mountains, winter danger, and child-stealing traditions.

Her name appears in medieval learned contexts as part of trollwife naming material.

William Sayers notes that Grýla appears as a troll-woman name preserved in skaldic heiti traditions (Sayers, 2009, p. 14).

Later Icelandic manuscripts preserve Grýla far more richly.

Karen Parsons shows how Grýla becomes central in the manuscript tradition of Grýlukvæði, tied to early modern Icelandic verse (Parsons, 2013, pp. 211–214).

Grýla is the strongest example of a troll name grounded in real Scandinavian folklore rather than modern invention.

Leppalúði and Troll Families: Trollwives and Household Monsters

Grýla is not alone in later tradition. She is paired with her husband, Leppalúði, who becomes part of a troll family complex.

Parsons traces Leppalúði’s place in Icelandic poetic tradition and manuscript transmission (Parsons, 2013, pp. 226–229).

This is important for troll names: once you enter later Nordic folklore, trolls begin to appear as family figures such as troll kings, troll households, even domestic monsters.

Sayers discusses trollwives as nuclear family structures in Old Norse-Icelandic tradition (Sayers, 2009, pp. 13–16).

This is where trolls in folklore become closer to the creatures of Norwegian folk tales.

Hrímgerðr and Troll-Like Giantesses in the Poetic Edda

In the Poetic Edda, we do find named monstrous female figures, though they are not always labeled trolls directly.

One example is Hrímgerðr, who appears as a hostile being in Helgakviða Hjǫrvarðssonar.

Bellows translates her encounter in ways that frame her as a witch-like adversary (Bellows, 1936, p. 279).

This is a case where a troll-like figure has a personal name, but the safest scholarly approach is to call her a giantess or witch-being rather than forcing the label troll.

Still, she belongs to the same world of supernatural beings.

Troll Names in Legendary Saga Literature: Late but Valuable Evidence

Troll names become more common in the legendary saga tradition.

These sagas are later and more folkloric, but they preserve important material about Scandinavian trolls as narrative beings.

In fornaldarsögur, trolls appear as named adversaries, troll women, or mountain dwellers.

This is where naming begins to flourish.

Scholars caution that these texts sit between myth and folktale, which explains why they contain more named trolls than the Edda tradition (Jakobsson, 2017, pp. 18–20).

The saga material gives evidence, but it is not as early as the core myth poems.

Norwegian Trolls and Scandinavian Folklore: Mountains, Bridges, and Stone

When people imagine Norwegian trolls, they often think of mountain trolls lurking near a rock formation like Trolltunga or Trollstigen.

In Norwegian folklore, trolls are often tied to:

• mountains
• forests
• caves
• bridges where they cross a bridge to threaten travelers
• church bells driving them away

A central motif is that trolls turn to stone when exposed to sunlight, i.e., they turn to stone when exposed, becoming stone when exposed to sunlight.

These ideas dominate Scandinavian folktales and Norwegian folk tales, shaping the iconic image of Scandinavian trolls.

This is the realm of nordic folklore and Norwegian folktales, where trolls feature trolls constantly.

From Mythical Creatures to Movie Trolls: How Troll Names Changed Over Time

The medieval troll is not the same as the movie troll.

Over centuries, Scandinavian culture transformed trolls from vague supernatural threats into iconic mythical beings with names, families, and personalities.

Artists like Kittelsen shaped the modern Norwegian troll image, while collectors like Theodor preserved Norwegian folklore traditions.

In modern Scandinavia, trolls are part of myths and legends, tourist branding, and folk tales.

But historically, troll names are rare, and the medieval record is thin.

The troll king and named forest trolls belong more to later tradition than to early Norse myths.

References

Bellows, H. A. (Trans.). (1936). The Poetic Edda: Translated from the Icelandic with an introduction and notes. Princeton University Press.

Jakobsson, Á. (2017). The troll inside you: Paranormal activity in the medieval North. punctum books.

Parsons, K. M. (2013). Grýla in Sléttuhlíð. Gripla, 24, 211–233.

Sayers, W. (2009). Snorri’s Trollwives. Scandinavian–Canadian Studies. 18, (Dec. 2009), 12–22.