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Why is the runic alphabet called futhark?

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Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries. — Germanic languages Distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe.

The runic alphabet is called futhark because of the phonetic sounds of its first six letters. In the Early Germanic script, which consisted of 24 letters, these initial characters correspond to the sounds f, u, th, a, r, and k.12

This naming convention is similar to how the modern alphabet is named after its first two letters, alpha and beta. While the specific origins of the runic system remain a subject of scholarly debate, it is widely believed to have been developed by Germanic peoples and may have been influenced by the Etruscan alphabet or the Latin alphabet. Over time, different regional varieties—such as the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic scripts—adapted these characters to better suit the phonetic needs of their respective languages.12