The meaning of the name is 'the (is)land of the virgin' (probably The Blessed/Holy Virgin Mary, but also possibly because the island 'dives', like the virgins, in high sea.) - but this is a poetic name first mentioned in 1520. The name of the island in Norse time was Aur (from Norse aurr 'gravel, shingle' - the whole island is a moraine that was made during the ice age)
