Girl ‘Scandinavian’ names

@Adultchildofelderlyparents , it's pretty. I'd never have thought of saying it as 'Marie', but given that Margot is 'Margo', I imagine quite a few people would assume it was silent.

Marged (g as in Margot) or Mared (Mar like in Marie, ed as in red) are pretty but not Scandinavian, and Malen (MAL-enn) too. I think Malen/Madlen is a form of the name Magdalene.

@KirstenBlest Yes exactly like that, Mah-rit, pronouncing the T at the end. We often find people in the UK assume Mah-ree.

Norwegian family girls names that I can think of
Ingvild
Matilda

Ella
Lovisa

How does your mother say Marit, @Adultchildofelderlyparents ?
I'd say it at Mah-rit, and I think it's a form of Margaret.

I love Sanna. It apparently means lily
as does Susannah

@soulinablackberrypie My mum is called Marit! No one in the UK ever pronounces it correctly

My Scandinavian friends are

Sanna
Tuija
Tiina
Caroline
Elena
and about 7 Anna’s

I love Sanna. It apparently means lily

I like Astrid, and would also like to throw in Maarit.

Sigrid, Ingrid and Freja are nice.

Scandinavia friends names:
Eva
Pernille
Karin
Camilla
Ana
Ulrika
Malene

Probably the wrong generation for your little one- I’m 50, my contemporaries are around about the same age. Also some of these names are popular beyond Scandinavia. So they are distinctively Scandinavian.

If it’s historical culture that he is keen on, how about Mathilda? It can go either way and means Brave Maiden.

Elna.

It's my lovely stepmum's name, her father was Swedish. If I'd have had any more girls I'd have used it, I think it's beautiful, though she has spent her life saying "no, not Elena!"

I thought it was pronounced with a hard g.

I didn’t thanks. I just thought the OP might like it. And yes. I said it was Welsh.

I quite like Gudrun! OP, I don't think you need a particular connection to Scandinavia in order to use a name from there. After all, half of the UK are descended from Vikings. That said, you say your DH is an expert in Norse so I guess that is your link, just as some people choose a nature name or a geographic name.

At the moment I really like Sanna, inspired by the Finnish PM. Also like Elva, I know one and always thought it was pretty.

@ZoyaTheDestroyer , no but OP said that her DH 'likes the kind of hard “G” that is common in these names'
and I thought maybe someone thought Angharad was pronounced as Ann-Garrud. It isn't.

Did someone ask?

Lumi

Angharad is Welsh and it's pronounced Ang-HAR-add. There is no G sound in it, and no G in it. NG is a single letter in Welsh, and it is always pronounced 'ng' not 'ng-g', (like in long and not like in England or danger)

This is definitely not right! Felicie, Miana, Madleen, Ivette.. never came across them here in Denmark. They don’t sound Scandinavian at all.
Some if the other links posted in this thread are much more reliable.

Oda is very popular here at the moment, it’s lovely in Danish but the English pronunciation is probably too similar to ‘odour’ unfortunately.

Other than that I like:

Tove
Petra
Ebba
Marianne
Helle
Vibeke (no idea how you would pronounce that in English though!)
Margrete
Eva

Astrid is nice.

How about Erika or Paulinna?

There are so many other lovely names, but it is surprisingly hard to find options that wouldn't be completely butchered by English speakers!
This is how I feel about Welsh names. They often sound awful anglicised, and never sound quite right.

I am Scandinavian and I don’t like Gudrun at all. It’s old fashioned and a Gudrun would not live in a big city. I see a lot of love for Astrid on here, but personally I think it’s a woman in her 50s so also quite old fashioned I would say. Olaf/ Ola also really old man.
I have give my children names which are recognisable both in the U.K. and my home country.

Unless he actually speaks a Nordic language or it's a name that's already been anglicised, you'd have to be careful with the pronunciation. The name Saga is not pronounced like the English word saga in the Nordic language I speak, not sure about the others but I would be doubtful about that.

When I was looking for Icelandic names for my daughter that would be easily pronounced in English, or would be close enough, these are a few that were on the long list (her actual name has already been mentioned):

Svala
Inga
Rósa
Elsa
Lóa
Ylva

Things like Hekla, Embla and Katla could also potentially work.

There are so many other lovely names, but it is surprisingly hard to find options that wouldn't be completely butchered by English speakers! The ones that are possible are all short ones that end in a! I used to joke with my mother that we would name her Ragnheiður.

Eira is a Welsh name and a Norwegian name. Welsh Eira means Snow (It's the Welsh word for snow) and is pronounced Ey-rah (Ra like in rat). It doesn't quite sound like Ava or Ada.

Maybe look up Welsh/Irish names too. I know an Eira (welsh) which is pretty, pronounced A-ra. My favourite scandi girls name from this thread is probably Freya.