Thorkel or Thorkell (Þórkæll / Þorkell) is an
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 ...
masculine
personal name
A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...
. Among the more famous holders of the name are:
*
Thorkel of Namdalen, ninth-century jarl and father of
Ketil Trout.
*Thorkell Súrsson, tenth-century
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 ...
er and character in the ''
Gísla saga''.
*Thorkell Eyjólfsson, Icelandic
goði of the late tenth and early eleventh century, husband of
Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir and stepfather of
Bolli Bollason.
*Thorkell Arden, eleventh-century progenitor of the
Arden family, one of only three Anglo-Saxon noble families to survive the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
with their position and properties intact. Distant ancestor of the playwright
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
.
*
Thorkell the Tall, eleventh-century
Jomsviking leader and
jarl.
*
Thorkell Leifsson,
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
ic
goði of the eleventh century and son of explorer
Leif Eriksson.
*
Thorkel Fóstri ("Foster-father Thorkel"), foster father of
Thorfinn Sigurdsson,
Jarl of Orkney c. 1020–1064.
*
Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic composer.
*
Thorkell (''Vinland Saga''), a fictional character from the manga series ''Vinland Saga''
{{given name