Given name · also Old Norse
Gudrun
“a battlemaiden”
Gudrun is used as a given name. One Scandinavian interpretation is “a battlemaiden.”
Original Old NorseGuðrún
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Scandinavian interpretation is “a battlemaiden.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Old Norse.
How it developed
Its Old Norse formation brings together gud (“god”) and rún (“secret lore”).
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1895. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gudrun through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 399
- 0 boys · 399 girls
- Most popular year
- 1915
- 35 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 1972. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 35 in 1915. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,388 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gudrun’s family of names
Gudrun has an affectionate form in Guro. In Norwegian Bokmål usage, Gudrun shares a linguistic root with the Faroese form Guðrun. In Norwegian Nynorsk usage, Gudrun has a related form in Guru.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Gudrun has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its Old Norse roots to each of them.
Old Norsewhere Gudrun comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 17
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gudrun
- Gudrun EnsslinGerman far-left militant (1940–1977)
- Gudrun PausewangGerman writer (1928–2020)
- Gudrun LandgrebeGerman actress (born 1950)
- Gudrun WegnerEast German swimmer (1955-2005)
- Gudrun StockGerman cyclistborn 1995
- Gudrun BrostSwedish actress1910–1993
- Gudrun BeckmannGerman swimmerborn 1955
- Gudrun WagnerGerman opera manager (1944-2007)
- Gudrun Zapf von HesseGerman typographer (1918–2019)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Gudrun, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Gefjun
>99% girls
Gunnlod
>99% girls
Pirjo
Pirjo is used as a given name. Pirjo is connected with Bridget.
1% boys · 99% girls
Biddie
Biddie is a feminine given name from Scottish.
>99% girls
Norna
>99% girls
Averil
“to open”
10% boys · 90% girls
Faun
>99% girls
Fortuna
“storm”
>99% girls