Greenland was named “Greenland” by the Viking explorer Erik the Red as a kind of early marketing strategy to attract settlers, even though most of the island is icy rather than green.

The naming story

Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland in the late 10th century and sailed west, exploring the large icy land we now call Greenland. He eventually found some habitable, more vegetated areas in the south and decided to start a new settlement there.

A clever Viking “advertisement”

According to the Icelandic sagas, Erik deliberately chose the pleasant name Grœnland (“Green land”) because he believed more people would want to move there if it sounded appealing. In other words, the name functioned as a recruiting tool to make a harsh environment seem more inviting to potential Norse settlers.

Was Greenland ever actually green?

Historians and climatologists point out that around the time of Erik the Red, parts of southern Greenland were likely warmer and greener than they are today, with more grassland and possibly some woodland. Even so, about 80% of the island has long been covered by ice, so the name still exaggerates how green the land really was.

What Greenlanders call it today

In Old Norse the name was Grœnland , which later became “Greenland” in English. In the local Greenlandic language, however, the country is called Kalaallit Nunaat , meaning “land of the Greenlanders,” reflecting the Inuit people who live there.

TL;DR: Greenland got its name from Erik the Red, who called it “Greenland” to make it sound attractive and draw in settlers, even though most of it was (and still is) covered in ice.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.