Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from benthic foraminifera in the northern North Atlantic and Nordic Seas since the Last Glacial Maximum. Data are compiled from the literature. We use these data to define North Atlantic Deep Water source signatures through time. The columns indicate the site name, sample depth in meters, age in ka BP, time slice name (LH = Late Holocene, HS1 = Heinrich Stadial 1, LGM = Last Glacial Maximum), the used foraminifera species, the raw measured d18O and d13C signals (in per mil, with b for benthic), the same signals with species-specific corrections applied (d18Ob and d13Cb), d18Ob data corrected for global mean continental ice volume changes (ivc, using the sea level curve of Grant, K. M. et al. Nature 491, 744–747 (2012)), and the offset between the sediment late Holocene d18Ob data and our estimated theoretical local d18Ob signature, where Late Holocene data were available, as well as the data source citations in short and long format.