At the risk of being pretentious - probably a lost cause anyway - I am really keen on naming my #2 (due October)in a Scandinavian style! My DD is Honor Mary Maj the Maj being Swedish for May (pronounced My) and I am really keen on Ingrid, Greta,and Astrid. Also Soren and Stellan for a boy although DH not at all keen on those. We have no Scandinavian connection apart from a love of the countries, design and cinema/literature. What do you think and have you any suggestions?

Hi,

There are loads of Scandinavian boys that are nice eg: Karl, Dane, Jakob, Beck, Markus.

I always thought that Maj was a boys name.

My DD is called Kirsten..which is a common Scandinavian name as well as used here...

I hope Maj isn't aboy's name! I named her after the writer Maj Sjowall but have a feeling that Larry Hagman's swedish wife was called Maj!

Apparently it can be both...

I have a Freya. Just loved it really, you could spell it "properly" (Freja) if you wanted.

Hiya,

Just had a look at babynames.com and according to them it can be used as a male or female name

I love Ingrid and Astrid.

I like Lars and Tor. for boys.

Greta is nice.

I love Scandi names, have lots for boys: Lars, Linus, Magnus. Oh, I know an Arne locally. Erick. I like Loki and Thor, too, but they're a bit out-there for my taste really.

Pia is lovely.

Also Anneka.

i know swedes named svea, kirsty and henrik

but would never contemplate giving a swedish name if i had no swedish connections. very odd imo

I like Madita.

My dds have mostly Greek names and we have no Greek connections. I just like lots of Greek words/sounds.

Lars?

I agree with Tutter, however - I think it's best when names have cultural resonance for the family concerned.

How far back in ones cultural heritage should one look though?? Slippery slope that one, and judgemental too.

I think that's a bit of a silly argument really, many names which are commonplace were originally "foreign" names and have slowly been accepted as "normal".

I've always like Thorfinn Ravensfeeder..

Sorry. Just an impulse. I actually DO like Thorfinn tho wouldn't use it...

Isn't Linus Irish?
Kirsty Scottish?
Kirsten a girl's name here and boy's name in Sweden?

Maybe Scandanavian parents who like foreign names?

Oscar/Oskar

apparently kirsten is OCCASIONALLY used for boys but it's mostly a girl's name!

Did anyone read the Bullerby children books when they were little by Astrid Lindgren? I LOVED them and really wanted to move to Sweden. Not really relevant but just thought I'd add. If I remember rightly the kids in those books were Britta, Anna, Kirsten, Olaf, Lars, Pip and Lisa.

I have 4 dcs and they all have Scandinavian names

Oh, and I have read nearly everything by Astrid Lindgren

We have the Bullerby books, my dds are reading them.

There are Astrid Lindgren books about children called Lotta and Jonas too.

And Emil in the Soup Tureen - that's another.

My son is called Jens - my name is Scandinavian too. Can't decide what to call the next one though so will watch this thread for inspiration. DP likes Lars but I'm not so sure, I knew one once and he was bonkers.

mylittlepudding and emkana

ok, so if i had another maybe i could all him/her concepcion. or abdullah. or heinrich.

yes i could but as i said, it would be odd, imho

Ulrika.....

My oldest ds is Sven....whilst not scandinavian myself, it's a name commonly used in germany, and I am german!
I like the name Leif, Soren, Malte...but only Soren might work in english....there are also Lars , Nils, Michel and Ole that I can think off right now!

Annika is scandinavian, I think....Greta is quite cute...I knw a fair few Astrids, but it's not a namer I am keen on personally and have an Aunty called Ingrid...in germany it's a kind of old fashioned name I suppose!
I think Ida might also be scandinavian...if pronounced Eeda I think it's a cute name

Bjarne

My uncle is Gustav and aunt is Helena (pronounced Hel-ay-nah rather than Helen-a)
Rather enderingly my brother when little used to call my uncle 'good stuff' as he couldn't pronounce Gustav

I know girls named Astrid and Nisse and boys Aksel and Bjorn.

oh, my cousin is a Bjorn...how could I forget, lol!

Ikea?
Ilva?

Jesper

In a I don;t have swedish heritage, but my furniture does, kind of way!

Is Lars Scandinavian?

astrid and ingrid are cool names

greta is harsh and not very nice imho

how about agnes, aksel, alexandra, alfred, anders, andrea, andreas, anika, anna, anne, annelie, annelise, anton, antonia, aron, arvid, asta, beata, bo, brita, britt, cai, carina, cecile, charlotte, christa, christen, christine, cille, claus, christoffer, daniel, david, dorothea, edith, edvard, edvin, elias, elin, elisabet, ellinor, else, elva, emanuel, emil, emilia, emilie, erik, erika, esben, espen, ester, eva, filip, finn, flemming, frans, frederik, frederikke, frej, freja, frida, frode, gabriel, georg, gina, gregers, grete, gunda, gunnar, gunvor, gustav ....

Hehe, Fin-Bob is very very cute. Mine will be Finlay Joseph. Fin-Jo doesn't have the same ring does it?

A question to all those with Finlays. Do you shorten it to Finn or Fin? I think it looks nicer with the extra n but maybe a little unnecessary and odd?

elske? means love in orwegian and swedish

I like Ingrid, Greta,and Astrid.
Not keen on Soren and Stellan though sorry

Eek, ignore me. Wrong thread (blush)

Albin

I am Scandinavian and I have never, ever heard of Kirsten being used for a boy or Maj for that sake.

Elske is not a name, it means love. You might be thinking of the boys name Eske.

I LOVE the name Lars. Always have, don't know why. Also like Soren

Ellen - I have a Finlay who is Fin for short. I always think of Finlay as a Scottish/Gaelic name - the anglicised form of Fionnlagh.

oh - that makes more sense then Ellen

Lars is a very common name in Denmark. Although personally I don't like it.

I had Astrid and Soren on my names list when pg with baby number 2. Love them both

if I have another boy he is going to be Lars.

Was about to post Lars
Fingerwoman lol- we all know what ds4 will be too.

hanna, hans, harald, hedvig, helga, heidi, helena, helene, henriette, henrik, henrike, ida, inga, ingrid, irene, ivar, jacob, jan, jannick, janicke, jens, jesper, johan, johanna, johannes, jon, jonas, jonathon, jorck, josef, julia, warner, walter, vita, virginia, viola, vincent, vilmar, viktor, viktoria, veronika, verner, ulrike, ursula, ulrik, ulla, tyra, tordis, torben, tor, tora, tobias, tine, thorsten, thora, thomas, therese, theresa, theodor, thea, tea, tarben, susanne, stig, stefan, soren, sonja, sofie, siv, simon, sigrid, sigmund, sara, severin, sanna, ruth, rudolf, rune, runa, ruben, rosemarie, rosa, rolf, robert, rikard, regina, rebekka, rasmus, ralph, rakel, ragnar, pontus, pia, peter, paul, otto, osvald, oskar, olga, ole, nora, nathanael, morten, monika, mona, mikaela, mikael, mia, meta, mathias, martina, martin, martha, maria, marius, margareta, magnus, madgalene, magdalena, magda, mads, lukas, lucia, lotte, lorens, liv, lise, lis, lisbet, lena, lene, lina, laura, lasse, lars, konrad, kresten, kris, klemens, klara, kim, kennet, kiersten, katrine, kasper, karolina, karoline, karla, karl, karen, kai.

there are far too many lovely names out there.

hatrick, I met a Nico at bf cafe the other day only pronounced nicko, rather than neeco

as far as I know Lars is a scandinavian name, yes....

Magnus for a boy or Greta for a girl.

hehe,Magnus kinda makes me think of Lazytown, lol

ooooo prefer Neeco I think.

how are elisabet and lisbet pronounced?

So much lovely input! I'm still keen on all my names apart from not quite knowing how to pronounce Soren (is it Surren?)I do take people's points about not having Scandinavian heritage (as far as I know of course) but don't think it matters one jot! I also like Lotte (pronounced Lotter) but find the girls' names easier to countenance than the boys as by and large the boys' names are quite unusual. Does anyone know of any Svens, Stellans or Sorens in England (outside of Primrose Hill!) that were not born to Scandinavian parents? Maybe we could set up a support group!!

I know a Signe, I think it is very pretty though no-one can pronounce it of course

i have a kai

Sven?
Lars?

how do you pronounce Signe? Is it a boys' name or a girls' name?

I love Greta. Also for girls - Karin ('Ka' pronounced as 'Car'), Mirja (Mir-ya), Asa (Orsa). All pretty.

I think that Freya is nice.

Silje, Jeanette, Tine, Line, Stine, Marte, Liv, Regine.

Freja is the main chocolate supplier in Norway.

I have a Freya Loved the name the second I heard it. It's seems to be getting more common, so much for her unusual name

Have you tried looking at a name day calender? Or, better displayed, wikipedia?

Love Asa - but probably for a middle name. Have looked at the name day calendar and it is a great resource. Thanks! Any ideas on pronunciations - Soren and Signe??

I think Soren is pronounced Syo-ren, doesn't the O have a diagonal through it (in Danish)? We have a Romanian name Sorin and considered it for DS but it wouldn't have gone with our surname which sounds like O'Good (Sorry, No Good).

I think Signe is pr. Seey-neh.

Another Scand. name is Sylvia. We have one and a Heidi too.

When are you due Honory?

My dd has a scandi name- one of the 3 you mention- (the authoress!) we love it. We actually chose it many years ago, before we had even decided to have dc or get married. Thank goodness she looked the part when she arrived.

I like Stellan and Thorsten, Greta and Espen too.

I am from Norway. My youngest son is called Kai.

Other popular names are:
Endre, Stig, Tom, Magne, Jarl, Sebastian, Bjørnar, Torsten, Tarjei, Kristoffer, Knut, Fredrik, Jan, Jonathan, Kurt, Steinar, Espen, Rune, Kasper, Trond, etc.

For girls:
Sofie, Emilie, Anikken, Trine, Henriette, Mona, Laila, Hilda, Ingrid, Sigrun, Sigrid, Saskia, Terese, Trude, Tina, Helle, Vanja, Anja, Linda, Maria, Ulva, Tora, Synnøve, Silje, Hege, Hanne, Maj, Linn

They often dobbel barren first names, such as Trond-Jonas, Kai-Rune, Jan-Peter. And Hilda-Kristine, Maj-Linn, Maria-Terese etc.

Norwegian names in our family:

Ole, Hans, Leif (pronounced Layf, not Leaf), Svein, Tor and Bjorn..

Icelandic names in DH's family. Many unpronounceable!
But how about Solveig, Vigdis, Bryndis, Svava, (girls)
Hannes, Oskar, Gisli, Singri (boys)

Woops Sindri not Singri

My vote: Lars, Bjorn, Morten, Emilie, Kristen