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Name

Hel

/HEL/ FeminineOld Norse

Meaning

Hel is a feminine name of Old Norse origin meaning “hidden; ruler of the Norse underworld”.

Hel, daughter of Loki, ruled the Norse realm of the dead that shared her name, her body half living and half corpse; the name traces to a Germanic root meaning hidden or concealed, the same source as English hell. As a given name it is vanishingly rare, a single stark syllable for the boldest namers.

At a glance

Origin
Old Norse
Gender
Feminine
Pronounced
/HEL/
Themes
DeathDark

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Questions

  • Hel is a feminine name of Old Norse origin meaning “hidden; ruler of the Norse underworld”. Hel, daughter of Loki, ruled the Norse realm of the dead that shared her name, her body half living and half corpse; the name traces to a Germanic root meaning hidden or concealed, the same source as English hell.

  • Hel is traditionally a feminine (girl) name.

  • The name Hel comes from Old Norse. Hel, daughter of Loki, ruled the Norse realm of the dead that shared her name, her body half living and half corpse; the name traces to a Germanic root meaning hidden or concealed, the same source as English hell. As a given name it is vanishingly rare, a single stark syllable for the boldest namers.

  • Hel is pronounced HEL.

More names that mean death

Names that share this meaning.

  1. Anubis MasculineEgyptian“the jackal-headed god of embalming”
  2. Azrael MasculineHebrew“God is my help; the angel of death”
  3. Hades MasculineGreek“the unseen one”
  4. Kali FeminineSanskrit“the black one”
  5. Mara FeminineHebrew“bitter”
  6. Morana FeminineSlavic“goddess of winter and death”