Scandinavian names - help!

[malterserslover]

We are half British/half scandinavian family expecting 1st DC and struggling with potential names. We agree that we want a name that is pronounced relatively similarly in both places and does not seem too weird for either culture. So far we have come up with the following but not sure we LOVE any of them:

Girl:
Sienna
Matilda
Alissa
Sophia

Boy:
Elias
Sebastian

Anyone here who is familiar with scandinavia and could throw in some suggestions?? :-)

Hey, I don't have time to go through all previous posts so probably repeating suggestions here.. We're Swedish/Scottish and chose AXEL for our son. Since we are settled in the UK we wanted a "proper Swedish" name that is easy to pronounce in English. We get lots of positive comments on the name (of course people don't tell you if they hate it...) and have never regretted it. Also know of Scandi/British children called Albert, Elsa, Casper, Hans, Nils, Viggo, Molly, Oskar, Ingrid and Alba.

We're expecting DC2 in a few weeks and will probably go for Helga if it is a girl. Perhaps Ingmar if it is a boy. Although I have to say it doesn't feel as important to go with a Swedish name this time round. I love Gil/Gilbert and Roy (every British person I tell makes a face at Roy though...) for a boy. Maybe Gilda for a girl.

Not really Scandi related (though DD's heritage is Danish). She is now 7 so getting plenty of certificates for ballet/swimming/gym/school....etc...as well as heaps of cards for Christmas and birthdays.

I'd just say that you should choose a name and spelling that people have a fighting chance of remembering. We really should have corrected people initially, but many struggle with unfamiliar sounds so the spelling is wrong.certificate..after.certificate.

We alson had a bit of an issue finding a name that worked nicely with the Danish long-vowel start of a surname.

I am a quarter Swedish and I loved the names;

Ottilia
Heidi
Lotte
Agnes
Katrin
Hanna
Hedvig (reminded DH too much of Harry Potter Hedwig)
Lena

Finn
Vincent
Josef
Casper (DH prefers spelling Caspar)
Valentin

Thor

I'm rather fond of Elke (pn Elkuh), is that Scandinavian or more Germanic?

Scandi-English family here, both DS and DDs names appear above.
We wanted names that sound as similar as possible in both languages and ones they wouldn't have to keep spelling out. I really liked the name Linnea or Nea, but apparently to DH, it sounds like a horse. I also like the name Isla, but pronounced as it would be in by a Scandi, not pronounced as it actually is...

Anyway, our choices seem to have worked ok...

But funnily enough, English names are really popular here, we know a Kevin, Liam, Winston, Edvin, Jason etc.

I agree that it is hard when you look Scandinavian / English to get the pronunciation the same

I have found you for girls names are better of ending them in A to get a similar sounding name.

Boys names are harder imo.

Personally we went with names that we liked but were not specific English/Scandinavian. ( I am Danish by birth)

A friend and her UK Husband went with Rebecca and Katrina for their girls., Works well in both languages.

How about Ebba for a girl if you like Emma? Know it's pronounced differently in Swedish but still.

Linnea is nice but v popular.

I love Viggo. Or Pontus. There won't be any other kids at school with those names in UK :)

Rasmus
Stellan
Jesper

Saga
Linnea
Sunniva

Stefan
Tomas
Henrik

Hanna
Petra
Kristina (Stina)
Anna
Freya

Stellan for a boy? I've heard it a couple of times in the UK and absolutely love it.

I have a lovely swedish friend who is Mia, short for Maria.

Her sister in law is Ebba

Elliot?

Maja pr My-ya? That's quite international - Maya, Maia, mia, May-a etc

I love Stellan, Espen, Lars and Astrid. In fact I'd like to have quads right now so I can use those.

My DS2 has a Danish name (one of them names mentioned above but don't want to say which as will out me!) and it works fine here in UK as it is said as it is spelt.

My other fav scandi names are Ossian and Stellan.

Boy - Axel, Martin, Liam, Christer
Girl - Malin

Erland, Thorfinn, Magnus, Erik, Harald, Sigurd, Rognvald, Lief, Olaf

Ingrid, Inga, Elsa, Britt, Anna, Freya, Frida, Gudrun, Sunniva, Ola, Solveig

I love Astrid, I'd use it in a heartbeat but my husband really doesn't and I do think it's one of those names you either love it hate. I say go for it!

from a norwegian english perspective some of the names we considered to have relatively little pronounciation problems

Girls: Torill, Torunn, Tora, Tuva, Maria, Malin, Kristin, Maya, Sara, Freya (although norwegians have a tendency to turn that into Frya if they're not paying attention), Runa, Heidi, Hedda, Iben,

Boys: Lucas, Thomas, Henrik, Magnus, Oliver, Patrick, Alexander, Oskar, Aksel, Filip, Sigurd,

we ruled out names like Ida, Eva, Ava, Iris, because of the very different vowel sounds in the initial letter, somehow it seems less problematic when the pronounciation variation isn't the inital sound....

We know a few international couples where the dcs names have to work in several languages. Their kids are called

Nick
Tim
Tom
Ben
Oliver
Sebastian
Peter
Lukas

Emily
Annika
Mia
Alice
Victoria

Astrid and Tobias get my vote.

Anders
Magnus

Anna
Marie

Kelda?