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??

Thora Birch - the little girl in Hocus Pocus!!!!!!! Makes me love Thora all the more, such a cool name.

Last birthday party I went to was for a toddler called Winnifred lol. I don't see Thora as a granny name at all, but even if it was, granny chic is cool in the UK these days. All of my friend's kids could either be 2 or 92 just going by their names!

It actually is the feminine version of the name Thor too which makes it even cooler.

Elfrida nn Elfie is growing on me too OP.

Embla!

I taught an Ilse at an international school in Sweden , I think it's beautiful.

I like Annika
I also like Linnae influenced by a lovely lady I used to know.

I LOVE Thora. It's cool in the same slightly marmite way as Martha. You can be confident it will never go top ten! We weren't brave enough to use it for DC1 and then DC2 was a boy. It's my one that got away.

Thora Hird died in 2003. I'd be surprised to meet someone under the age of forty who knew who she was or made the association with the name.

Thanks so much everyone!! It's been really helpful reading all your comments!

There has been a lot of love for Thora, which I'm starting to think is a good option: strong Norse link and "old lady vibe" (which I love!), plus not too common either. Works really well in both countries.

Ilse is also still on the list! <3 Short and sweet!

Elfrida (Frida) is also staying on the list!

Eira, I still LOVE - but I wouldn't want people to think we're trying to be Welsh, and I'm also a bit concerned about the potential different pronunciations of this name...

Astrid I know would work so well, but I just think it's getting a bit too popular, both in Sweden (for the last 10 years) and over here now too!

Iris I'm afraid is getting a bit too popular too... and hasn't got the obvious Scandi link, as many has pointed out.

Asta is beautiful, but I'm scared of the "Asta la vista" / "Astra car" / "Asda shop" etc. associations.

I still also quite like Selma and Hilma, but have to discuss them a bit more with the other half...

So, looks like it's down to: Thora, Ilse and Elfrida ?? for now anyway :D

Again, thank you!

How is Eira pronounced in Scandinavia?

I vote for Ilse!

I think stuff like Helga is a bit hardcore. I love the name Leni for a girl. I think it's scandi.
Like Lenny is quite cute anyway but the feminine form of it sounds lovely. I'm happy to hear others views on it?

Like "Ey-Rah" ("ey" and in "hey"), in my dialect we have the rolling "Rs" too :D

I like your top 3! Again, Thora is my absolute favourite!

Just to go back to some of the others.
I don't think the things you mention with Asta would be an issue here in the UK,
we won't make those associations. Also I've been teaching 20 years and never had an Astrid in school/uni so it's not too popular here. Iris got very popular because of the fact it means rainbow..a lot of people use it after miscarriage and it also got popular after the Covid pandemic as rainbows were put in peoples windows and on signs and things that were very visible so it's maybe something to consider in case you revisit the name at some point.

Cool that’s very similar to Welsh! It’s a beautiful name and if you love it you should use it. ❤️

Eira, I still LOVE - but I wouldn't want people to think we're trying to be Welsh, and I'm also a bit concerned about the potential different pronunciations of this name...

So, looks like it's down to: Thora, Ilse and Elfrida
How do you say Thora in Swedish?

Thank you 🥰 yes, you are right!

It's kind of "Tora", with hard "T" instead of "Th" and the o is an ou-sound. It's a pretty name in Swedish, quite simple and not too frilly.

Ana Edelweiss
Erika Annunciata
Estelle Desiree
Marie Ellen Gabrielle
Anneke Victoria
Vreni Christina
Sofia Caroline

It will get said with a 'th' and rhyme with Dora in the UK.
I like it.

What did they go for?

We went with Eira in the end 😊❤️

My Swedish friend has dds called Britta and Astrid. Both lovely imo.