help! Am I letting my pregnancy hormones run away with me on this name?

[littlemissbroody26]

Hello :)

I am 18 weeks pregnant and have started the hard job of making baby name lists. It is made even more difficult because i live in sweden so the baby needs to have a swedish name (im english and i love lots of english names but swedish ones are hard to like imo.)

Ages ago long before I was pregnant my OH said he liked the name Älva for a girl (said el-va) the word elva means 11 in swedish but the work älva means elf/fairy (to me älva and elva sound the same but for swedish people they sound different apparently.)

The name alva (said Al-va) is very popular, in the top 10 here, it also means fairy/elf but is a more common name.

we have called the baby "elfie" whilst he/she is in my tummy as she/he is due close to christmas so it would be lovely to have a name that actually meant elf.

But am i just being really silly, is it really ok to call a child elf/fairy? I'm not sure if I would have even considered it before i was pregant but i have all these lovely feelings for my OH now like he could sugest anything and it would be perfect!

the other option if Freja which i love but is so popular.

so many choices.. and elfie might be a boy anyway!

Thank you :)

I like them all. Ross noble's child is called elf so you'd be in good company

I think elf/fairy/sprite/pixie/leprechaun names are too odd and twee, sorry! Unfortunately I don't really like Freja (sorry again!) but I think it's better than the elf names.

I dont think its silly at all. I think its very sweet and quite beautiful, actually OP :)

I am a sentimental sod, though!

Here are some magical and elvin alternatives for your perusal:

Girls

Alida = little winged girl
Alvina = elf friend
Aubree = elf leader
Alfrida/Elfrida = elf power
Elva = elf leader
Elvina =elf friend
Ludella =clever elf
Peri = elf, fairy

Boys

Alberic = clever elf
Alfred = elf counsel
Alfic =elf kingdom
Alger = elf spear
Alvar = elfin army
Alvin/Elvin = friend to elves
Aubrey = elf leader

If you want more mythical/magical names, I know more of those, too :) x

Congrats and good luck!

Elfie = short for Elphaba

Lovely!

Or just Elfie.

Also lovely.

Like Älva, Alva & Freja.

Why does the name have to be Swedish?

Thank for all the lovely feedback ladies :) Mammatonic i didnt know how many elf inspired names there are! I love the name alvin for a boy... but it reminds me of alvin and the chipmunks.. im sure if i used it i would forget about the chipmunks eventually.

The name should be Swedish because we live in Sweden and the baby will go to Swedish daycare/school, the swedes cant say names that end in "y" or begin with "j" or in fact have a j or y in at all... well they can say them but they sound different to how they are said in english for example im Amy but the swedes call me A-moo, so i think rather than correcting them for ever i might as well choose a Swedish name.

There are lots of more whimsicle names used here, last names are mostly nature names things like "calm stream" or "young branch" so I think Älva would fit in well.. but if we moved to the UK it might not be so normal to have a name like that... but i guess in the UK most people wouldnt know Älva ment elf/fairy so it wouldnt be a problem. It's so nice to have you telling me its actually a nice name and im not just going crazy!

The reson we love the name Freja is because she is the norse godess of (among other things) fertility, it took us a long time to get pregnant we were just about to start an IVF cycle when I pregnant naturally, this baby to me feels like such a little fertility blessing.

my mum has allways said that if you call a child something that could be a thing/description there is a good chance that they will be the opposite of that name so älva would probably be an ice hockey player!

hugs :)

What about Elvie?

It still suggests elfishness but sounds less like an adjective

I also like Alva

Having recently watched "The Bridge", I also like Saga & Mette-probably popular, though.

The other reason I suggest Elvie rather than Elfie, is that Elfie sounds a bit like Alfie, pronounced slightly wrong

I am obsessed with fairies and have called my DD Ada - it means fairy in Spanish!

I think Evie is a lovely name but its my little sisters name.. so might make christmas confusing!

the name Saga is a fab name, Saga means story in Swedish, it is popular, but the reason it's not on our list is because it reminds me of saga holidays for the over 50's silly reason really!

I think if it was going to be elfie it owuld only be a nick name... with älva or alva as the actual name :)

Ada is a lovely name :)

Not Evie, Elvie.

If I had a girl she would be called Elfie - I knew an Elfie when we were growing up and no one batted an eyelid.

silly me reading it as Evie sorry Jamieandtheolympictorch! maybe too simalar tho.. my sis is only 9 and i dont want her to feel like i was stealing her name.

Thats greta that you knew an Elfie purplelooby!

Älva is gorgeous, it sounds pretty even if you don't know what it means love it.

I prefer Älva over Freja personally

OP, both names are lovely. And when you're holding your gorgeous bundle you'll know what name is right.

In the UK, people might also know 'Alva' as an anglicised version of the Irish name Ailbhe.
I wouldn't be pronounced the same, but it is still a nice name, and doesn't sound weird or anything.

Hi, fellow Swede here!

I love all three names, beautiful choices.

It might be worth thinking about how the ä works in the UK. My surname has Swedish characters and I occasionally have trouble on official forms and at the bank (for example, in my electronic UK passport the å is printed "aa" which is nonsensical). Also I tend to get anglicised mispronunciations of my name even from people who should know better! I don't mind this at all, but my DH hates it. I'm not sure how it would feel if it was my first name instead of surname. That might be a reason to go with Alva over Älva.

Saga is also so beautiful, one of my favourites.

hello equalsx :)

thats a great point! my family cant cope with the äöå letters, my oh's name has an å in it and our commune has 2ä's in it and my family just put randon dots over all the vowles as they can never remeber which ones need to be äöå when they send us letters, they still get to us tho...

the baby will be born brittish as im brittish and we are not married, so i guess his/her 1st pasport will be brittish so the ä in älva could be a problem!

Saga is lovely, I just love the meaning like the new baby is a story we just don't know what the story is yet... goodness im so soppy since being pregnant!

Bless you, OP. It took us 2 years of trying and 6 cycles of Clomid to conceive DD2 (now 11wo), so I know how you feel about your fertility miracle baby!

Will you find out baby's gender?

God I loved the bridge.

Saga was such an excellent character too.

Come on - hit us with some more Swedish names. Googling cast from the bridge I've come up with tuvalisa but have no idea what it means.

congratulations on your new baby mammatonic! It's well worth the wait once you become pregnant isn't it :) i think we will find out the sex, my OH is convinced baby will be a girl and i dont want him to feel like he was "wrong" at the bith if we have a boy.