The little blue Bluetooth symbol on your smartphone is in truth over 1,000 years old – it is the monogram of a Viking king.
Harald Bluetooth (Old Norse Haraldr Blátǫnn) united Denmark in the 10th century and brought Christianity to the land. At Jelling, around the year 965, he had a mighty rune stone raised – often called ‘Denmark’s birth certificate’. Today the Jelling stones are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 1997 an Intel engineer was looking for a name for a new wireless technology meant to connect different devices – just as Harald once united the Danish tribes. The name was quickly found: Bluetooth.
And the logo? It is a bind-rune – two runes of the Younger Futhark interlaced: ᚳ (Hagall, ‘H’) and ᚲ (Bjarkan, ‘B’) – the initials of Harald Bluetooth. So today practically every smartphone in the world bears the monogram of a Viking king.
That is exactly what fascinates us about runes: they hold a name fast – lasting, clear, across centuries. Try it yourself: with our Rune Translator you can write your own name in real runes and save it as an image.
And if that image is to become a lasting piece – engraved in slate, wood or glass – you have come to exactly the right place.