Norse Names for Newbjorns
If you look at the Top 1000 (actually 2000) baby names on the latest Social Security list, you’ll find a rich mix of names with English and Irish and Latin and African roots, but only the sparsest sprinkling of names from the Scandinavian cultures. Aside from Eric and Erica–the only Norse names that have ever really caught on in this country–you have to look pretty far down the list to find a handful of others–Kai, Axel, Annika, Gunnar, Ingrid, Soren–some of them representing just a few hundred babies.
Which means that there’s a whole constellation of names waiting to be discovered–including Norse mythological names. Granted, not all of them would appeal to the American ear, some of them displaying their ungainly Germanic roots (Wigburg, anyone?), others offering pronunciation challenges (similar to that posed by Matt Lauer’s son’s Dutch name Thijs, pronounced Tice), or containing too many accents, or being just generally awkward, like Ansgar or Ragnild. That said, there are still many gems to be uncovered.
Though there are some names or variations found only in either Norway or Sweden or Denmark (Finland is a whole other story), the majority–many of them, such as Gunnar, coming from ancient Norse legend–can be found throughout Scandinavia. Strict traditional patterns of nomenclature–the first son being named for his paternal grandfather, etc–and laws restricting name choices have kept the supply pretty limited, but of late these have relaxed somewhat, and non-traditional names have been working their way in.
When it comes to the most popular names, there is some overlap among the three countries. In 2006-07, the top names in Sweden were William, Lukas and Elias, and Wilma, Maja and Ella; in Norway they were Jonas, Mathias and Magnus, and Thea, Emma and Julie; while in Denmark the top three were Lucas, Mikkel and Magnus, and Sofie, Laura, and Freja. Here are some other choices to consider; those starred are current favorites.
GIRLS
ASTRID
BARBRO
CLADY (klah-DEE)
DAGNY
*EBBA
JENSINE/JENSINA
*LINNEA
MAREN/MARET/MARIT
PETRA
*SIGNY/SIGNE
SVEA
ULLA (OO-la)
BOYS
BJORN
*FILIP
IVAR
JENS
KLEMENS
LARS
LEIF
ODIN
STEEN/STIAN
SVEN
TOR/THOR
VIGGO