Swords in the Viking Age (the late eighth to the eleventh century) were very expensive and difficult to make and thus relatively rare. Usually, therefore, swords were used mainly by kings and Vikings of high status. Vikings believed that the man and the sword became one and that each gave power to the other.

The names that Vikings gave their swords were often passed down from their fathers, and these names would allude to the physical character or supposed magical qualities of the sword. A sword, therefore, might be named Gramr, meaning fierce; Leggbitr, meaning leg-biter; or Gunnlogi, meaning battle or war flame. Sometimes the Vikings named their swords after animals or celebrated ancestors.

It was generally believed that by naming the sword, one could summon the qualities, spirit, or heritage of that name in battle, so if a sword was named after an ancestor, for example, the owner of the sword could summon the spirit of that ancestor in battle. If the sword was named after an animal, like a bear, the owner of the sword could summon the strength and ferocity of a bear.