Introduction
Laufey, also called Nal, is a giantess, wife of Farbauti and mother of Loki. Unusually in a strongly patronymic naming tradition, Loki is most commonly identified in Old Norse sources by his mother's name, as Loki Laufeyjarson ("Loki, son of Laufey"), rather than by his father's.
Family
The unusual matronymic
The near-universal use of Laufey's name rather than Farbauti's to identify Loki has prompted various scholarly explanations, including the possibility that Farbauti was considered less socially significant, that Laufey's own status or lineage carried particular importance, or simply that this reflects an older or regionally distinct naming convention preserved specifically in Loki's case.
Two names
The alternate name Nal, meaning "needle", has led to some speculation about a possible symbolic association with slenderness or sharpness, fitting for the mother of so quick and cutting a figure as Loki, though this remains interpretive rather than something the sources explain directly.