The Old Norse alphabet comprised of runes which was called the ‘futhark’. Futhark had several regional variations. It originally appeared in the 1st century CE. and continued to change over time.

The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries.