Old Norse name belonging to one of Odin's brothers in Norse mythology, meaning 'will' or 'purpose.'
Vili is one of the oldest personal names in the Norse tradition, carried by one of the three brother-gods at the very center of creation mythology. In the Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson in 13th-century Iceland from far older oral traditions, Vili and his brothers Odin and Vé slew the primordial frost giant Ymir and from his body fashioned the world — his flesh became earth, his blood the seas, his bones the mountains. Vili's specific contribution to humanity was the gift of wit and feeling, the capacity for emotion and intelligence that separates sentient life from inert matter.
His name derives from the Old Norse word for "will" (vilji), making him literally the personification of conscious intent. Beyond mythology, Vili persists as a living given name across Scandinavia and Finland, where it has enjoyed quiet, steady use for centuries. In Finland especially it sits comfortably among traditional masculine names, and it has cognates in the South Slavic Vili and the Hungarian diminutive tradition.
It carries none of the theatrical grandeur of Odin or Thor, which may be precisely its appeal — a mythological name worn lightly, intimate and unassuming. In the contemporary naming landscape, Vili appeals to parents seeking a short, strong, genuinely ancient name that travels elegantly across cultures. Its two-letter root-word clarity — will, volition, agency — gives it a quiet philosophical depth. A child named Vili carries the oldest recorded concept of purposeful human will, handed down from the brother-god who gave humanity the capacity to feel and to choose.