Geir is a masculine name commonly given in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It is derived from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''geirr'' "spear", a common name element in

Germanic name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements ( stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', meaning "noble", and ', meaning "counsel". The i ...

s in general, from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

'' *gaizaz'' (whence also

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''gêr'',

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''gâr'', Gothic ''gaisu''). The popularity of the given name peaked in Norway during the 1950s to 1980s, with above 2% of newly born boys named ''Geir'' during the late 1960s to 1970s. As of 2014, the National statistics office of Norway recorded 22,380 men with the given name, or 0.9% of total male population. Statistisk Sentralbyrå, National statistics office of Norway
ssb.no
The Old Norse spelling ''Geirr'' is also rarely given (89 individuals in Norway as of 2014). ''Geir'' is also rarely given in Sweden and Denmark. While ''Geir'' was practically unused as a given name prior to the 1930s (and since the 2000s), ''-geir'' is the second element in a number of given names inherited from Old Norse, the most popularly given being '' Asgeir'' and '' Torgeir''. These are a remnant of a much larger group of names including the ''geirr'' element in Old Norse.nordicnames.de
citing Kristoffer Kruken, Ola Stemshaug, ''Norsk Personnamnleksikon'' (1995), Per Vikstrand, ''Förkristna sakrala personnamn i Skandinavien'', Studia anthroponymica Scandinavica 27 (2009), 5–31, Lena Peterson, ''Nordiskt runnamnslexikon'' (2002). Notable people called Geir include: *

Geir Bjørklund Geir Bjørklund (born 20 April 1969 in Mo i Rana, Norway) is a researcher, health science writer, and scientific advisor. He has contributed to studying interactions of nutritional and environmental factors related to human physiology, biochemistr ...

(born 1969), Norwegian researcher, medical/health science writer, and editor *

Geir Digerud Geir Digerud (born 19 May 1956) is a Norwegian former professional cyclist. He was born in Oslo, and is the son of Per Digerud. He competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he placed 55th in the road race and eighth in team time ...

(born 1956), Norwegian cyclist *

Geir Gripsrud Geir Gripsrud (born 1946) is a Norwegian organizational theorist, and Professor of Marketing at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo. He is known for his work on international marketing, market entry strategy and distribution channels. Life and ...

(born 1948), Norwegian organizational theorist *

Geir Haarde Geir Hilmar Haarde (; born 8 April 1951) is an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009, and as president of the Nordic Council in 1995. Geir was chairman of the Icelandic Independence Par ...

(born 1951), Prime Minister of Iceland (2006–2009) *

Geir Hafredahl Geir Hafredahl (born 23 May 1962) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in ...

(born 1962), Norwegian politician *

Geir Hallgrímsson Geir Hallgrímsson (16 December 1925 – 1 September 1990) was the prime minister of Iceland for the Independence Party from 28 August 1974 to 1 September 1978. Before that he had been mayor of Reykjavík from 1959 to 1972. Geir was a member of ...

(1925–1990), Prime Minister of Iceland (1974–1978) *

Geir Hasund Geir Hasund (born 3 July 1971) is a former Norwegian football player that played as an offensive midfielder or forward at Hødd, Viking and Brann. He was capped for Norway at U21-level. Career After playing for Hødd, like his father Kjeti ...

(born 1971), Norwegian footballer *

Geir Helgemo Geir Helgemo (born 14 February 1970) is a professional bridge player who was born in Norway but is now a citizen of Monaco. Through 2012 he had won three world championships in competition. As of August 2018 he ranked first among Open World Gra ...

(born 1970), Norwegian contract bridge player *

Geir Ivarsøy Geir Ivarsøy (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the lead programmer at Opera Software. He and Jon von Tetzchner were part of a research group at the Norwegian state phone company (now known as Telenor) where they developed browsing software ...

(1957–2006), Norwegian programmer at Opera Software *

Geir Jenssen Geir Aule Jenssen (born 30 May 1962)Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, , p.197-198 is a Norwegian electronic musician and composer who records as Biosphere. A resident of Tromsø within the Arctic Circle, Jenssen is well ...

(born 1962), Norwegian musician best known under the recording name ''Biosphere'' *

Geir Hansteen Jörgensen Geir Hansteen Jörgensen (born 18 February 1968) is a Swedish television, film and commercials director. His most famous works are probably the film and TV mini-series '' The New Country'' and ''The Soloists''. Both have received many awards intern ...

(born 1968), Swedish film director *

Geir Isene Geir Isene (born 1966) is a Norwegian IT consultant, business coach, writer, and critic of the Church of Scientology. Isene left the Church of Scientology in 2009 after having been a member for 25 years. His turning point came in 2006, shortly ...

(born 1966), Norwegian writer * Geir Karlstad (born 1963), Norwegian speed skater, Olympic gold and bronze medalist *

Geir Lippestad Geir Lippestad (born 7 June 1964) is a Norwegian lawyer, politician and social activist. He is known for his involvement in several high-profile legal cases, and for starting the political party ''Sentrum'' in 2020. As a criminal appellate la ...

(born 1964), Norwegian lawyer and politician * Geir Moen (born 1969), Norwegian sprinter * Geir Suursild (born 1994), Estonian rower * Geir Sveinsson (born 1964), Icelandic handball player *

Geirr Tveitt Geirr Tveitt (born Nils Tveit; 19 October 1908 – 1 February 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. Life Early years Tveitt was born in Be ...

(1908–1981), Norwegian composer *

Geir Zahl Geir Zahl (born 19 May 1975) is a Norwegian musician. He is known for playing guitar in the Norwegian rock group Kaizers Orchestra Kaizers Orchestra is a Norwegian alternative rock band formed in Bergen on 1 January 2000. They are notable fo ...

(born 1975), Norwegian musician

References

{{given name Norwegian masculine given names Masculine given names Scandinavian masculine given names