Please help us with Scandi girl names!

[Taggys]

Hello,

We are expecting a little one late summer :) We already have a boy name sorted, but need some help with girl names... We are a half Swedish, half English family, living in the UK. We already have two children - a boy and a girl, and they have names that are very common in Scandinavia. Now, we need help with a girl name, that works in both regions.

We want the name to "sound" Scandinavian to fit with our other children's names, but work in the UK.

Our top 3 is (all of them "old lady" names that are well-known in Sweden):
Eira - derives from Norse godess "Eir", godess of health who could heal the sick. also Welsh name, meaning "snow".
Ilse - German/Scandi name meaning "oath of God".
Iris - Greek name meaning "rainbow".

But we also like:
Elfrida (nicknames could be Frida, Ida, Effie/Elfie)
Ida
Astrid (nice but a bit too common in Swe, was No.1 given name to girls 2022)
Hilma
Signe
Selma
Saga
Asta
Thora
Helga
Freja (nice but a bit too common in both Swe and UK)

Please help! Which ones "sound" Scandi? Which ones are pretty? Which ones work in the UK??

Camilla

What about:

Ingrid, Sif, Nanna, Dagmar, Alva, Alvilda, Vilja, Runa, Vigga...

Astrid is fab.

Gudrun?

I have never met Eira in Denmark. 4 girls were named it in 2022.
Ilse is rare too in children. 0 girl were named Ilse in 2022. 45 girls were named Iris.

The numbers are from www.dst.dk

In Denmark the most popularitet names for girls the half of 2023 are here found https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/navne/navne-til-nyfoedte

I love all of your names.

Eira, Iris and Freya don’t make me think “Scandinavian” but the rest do.

I especially like Signe

Love Ilse and Thora

From a Danish view:

Elfrieda - no.
Elfie/Effie - no.
Ida - yes.
Frida - yes.
Hilma - no.
Signe - yes.
Selma - yes.
Saga - yes (but more Swedish).
Asta - yes.
Thora - yes but very rare for children.
Helga - same as Thora.
Freja - yes.

We are living in Copenhagen and the girls in my daughter's class and girl guides' group are Esther, Nora, Kamille, Ingrid, Ellie, Asta, Clara, Selma, Alberte, Vilde and Isabella (and girls with English/Arabic/German/Italien names because of heritage. They are around 10 yo.

Similar boat to you OP and we have Astrid with nickname Asta on our list, along with Matilda, nickname Tilde.

Elin
Moa
Lina (wouldn’t use Line as my Swedish friend was constantly called line)

Although Astrid is my favourite name

The most Scandinavian sounding names to me are - Asta, Astrid, Elfrida / Frida, Selma, Ilse, Helga and Signe. Of these, I personally think that Asta, Astrid, Frida, Selma and Ilse work best in the UK.

https://www.nordicnames.de/namefinder/

Could be an inspiration.

Sunniva
Anne
Maria

I love Elfrida. Really like Eira (I'm imaging this pronounced like ear-ra), and quite like Ilse and Signe.

I taught a Swedish Aiste (Ice-tuh) here in the UK, it's originally Lithuanian but popular in some Scandi countries too.
I also taught a Norwegian Elke.

Just to throw some suggestions in.

These days I think anything works in the UK and there is nothing wrong with any of your names. I love Eira but most of the ones I've taught have been Welsh so I associate with Wales rather than Scandi names.

Avoid Saga, it's an old person's insurance company and a "saga" is often used to describe some sort of a family drama.

Helga would be considered unflattering here (like Gertrude..it's a good name for a Cow!).

Freya is extremely popular here so you might want to avoid Freja.

Thora is my favourite from your list.

The Danish King's daughters are named Isabella and Josephine. Their mother is from Australia. Both names work in their parents' heritages.

In Sweden the crownprincess Victoria's daugter is called Estelle. In Norway the crown prince's daughter is called Ingrid.

We were very close to go with the Norwegian name Jorunn (or Jorun) naming our youngst daughter (she was born in UK) but chose a British name after a relative. But a favorit of mine.

I have an Eira so obviously I love it. Ours is welsh so Ay-ra but it’s also said as eye-ra which is more commonly used in south Wales, I don’t like it said that way. How would is be said in scandi?

I also love Elfrida, it’s pretty but strong and Elfie is a lovely nn

I'm from the north of Scotland where we use a lot of Scandinavian names because of our cultural links to Norway. Both my DDs names have been mentioned on here.

Of your top 3 Ilse is my favourite, I also love Elfrida. We discounted Freja because it's so popular at the moment (no 6 in the UK, higher if you're in Scotland). I think they all sound Scandi to British ears except Ida and Iris.

Think most of the other names we considered are already mention except Sigrid, although I don't know how popular in Sweden it is.

I love Ilse, beautiful name and definitely sounds scandi.

Also like Astrid.

Freja is over used.

Saga as a scandi name makes me think of Saga Noren in the Bridge.

Malin is another pretty but strong Swedish name.

Have you considered Embla? Lovely name!

I love Eira but it’s definitely a stronger Welsh name rather than Scandinavian. If my now 12 yo DS had been a girl, her name would have been Eira.

Some Finnish names:
Senni
Sini
Ulla
Nelli
Kiia
Elsa
Elsi
Tanja
Saana
Eila
Auli
Linnea

I love Astrid. I also think Agnes would be a nice choice.

Thora is gorgeous

Inga

Thank you!! They are great suggestions, but so many girls were called Linnea and Annika when I grew up in the 90s...Lotta I like and it has the Astrid Lindgren link too!