Girl ‘Scandinavian’ names

[scotscorner]

Hi, advice appreciated! Nearly 27 weeks pregnant and DH and I struggling to compromise on girls’ names. (It could be a boy so we may escape the issue).

He has set his heart on baby girl’s name being: Gudrun. I understand this is not totally uncommon in Germany/Iceland/Scandi countries but we are in UK, have no connection to these countries and more importantly I just don’t like it! (He accepts I have vetoed Gudrun).

He is now pushing for other Scandi style names and I am struggling a bit. It wouldn’t be my preference although some of the names are quite nice. He also likes:
Signe
Sigrid
Astrid
Saga

I really want Nora which he says he likes but always does little sad faces as he doesn’t like it ‘as much as any of the Scandi style names’.

I like relatively uncommon names but I just think it’s a bit odd to choose a name from a specific culture/background when you have literally no connection to that place - what do others think?

and does anyone have any other Scandi-sounding names that we might both like??

thank you!

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.

Astrid is nice.

How about Erika or Paulinna?

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

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)

Lumi

Did someone ask?

@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.

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.

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

I thought it was pronounced with a hard g.

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!"

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.

Sigrid, Ingrid and Freja are nice.

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

My Scandinavian friends are

Sanna
Tuija
Tiina
Caroline
Elena
and about 7 Anna’s

I love Sanna. It apparently means lily

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

I love Sanna. It apparently means lily
as does Susannah

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

Norwegian family girls names that I can think of
Ingvild
Matilda

Ella
Lovisa

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

@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.

Kind of like Gudrun!

my daughter is Astrid. We're not Scandinavian but my family are from Orkney and Norse names are common there. She loves her name (she's 16) and most people comment well on it. It's an uncommon name but not unheard of. My son's name is similar but pretty much unheard of, but he rocks it too. People use French and Italian names (Amelie, Luca) without concern so I don't see the issue. If I met a Gudrun I would think it interesting but I'm not sure I'd choose it myself but I'd say the same about Nora. Have you considered Astri or Sigi?

How about...

Arstid (means 'light')
Planera (to quench one's thirst)
Tarva (peaceful, resting)
Male (to keep safely)

I have Tove, pronounced Toe-vee, on my list at the moment.

I don't think it matters if you use names from a country you don't have a connection to, as long as you like the name and the meaning of it, if that is important to you. Our children have names that are German, Norse, Japanese and Irish and they suit them beautifully.

We've actually done the popular DNA ethnicity tests recently, and found that ancestorally, we do have all of these, apart from Japanese in our family lines!