Ingrid, Svea or Sigrid (Swedish/ American parents)

[SleeplessInStockholm]

Our DD was born two days ago and we're still dithering about her name! Need to register it soon so would really appreciate your thoughts.

I'm Swedish, DH is American. We're in Sweden at the moment but likely moving back to the UK (or maybe US) in the next couple years. We want something that "sounds Swedish" to preserve that cultural identity, but equally don't want to make her life unnecessarily difficult!
DS is Magnus (almost 2) which we're very happy with. Our surname is a common Anglo one beginning with R - think Robinson, Richards etc. Stellan would have been our choice for another boy.

Our shortlist:
Ingrid - Ticks all the boxes and probably in the lead. But DH has a lingering concern that sounds harsh or ugly in English with the hard G? Is he imagining that?
Svea - Sounds cool ("SVAY-ah"). But too difficult/exotic in English? Minor concerns it sounds kind of "right wing" in Sweden (means Sweden, sort of), but I think the Anglo surname saves it.
Sigrid - Perhaps a bit smoother than Ingrid but also less recognisable. Friend knew a Sigrid who ended up nicknamed "Cigarette" though
Still somewhat considering:

• Liv - "Leev" in Swedish. Would have to decide whether to correct people or give in to the short I in English
• Lena - ("Layna") Less evidently Swedish but easy everywhere and has family significance
• Linnea - Works well; we just can't get excited about it for some reason
• Saga - I love it in Swedish but DH says too weird in English

We've already vetoed Astrid and Freja, and looked through just about every Swedish name going!

Which would you choose? Any experience with these names in the UK? Would love your input, good or bad!

My sister is Ingrid and my aunt is Sigrid. Both are beautiful, accomplished, American women. Neither name was seen as harsh or unfeminine. There were no problems with pronunciation or spelling. My name which I won’t share was another story! And our last name, oh dear!

Linnea is great, I know an English one and an American one and neither have huge pronunciation issues. I also like pps suggestion of Annika.

I really like Svea and assumed it was pronounced the way you've said. Not a fan of the 'grid' sound on the others.

Ooo love Liv and Lena!
Svea is my favourite of your short list.
How about Alva?

I know its not necessarily a Sweedish name but if you loved Stellan, why not use Stella?

sorry edit to say, Svea is gorgeous and that gets my vote

Congratulations!

I was going to suggest Astrid until I got to the end of your post!

I really like Ingrid. I'm not sure Svea works for Anglo speakers. You shouldn't let you put that off, we'd learn, but the Sv sound wouldn't come naturally to a lot of people.

Of all the suggestions I really like Annika. Possibly because it’s the name of a really character on radio and TV played by Nicola Walker!
A new neighbour is Malin and I love that name too.
Please tell us what name you choose.
Congratulations ☺️

Congratulations! I actually like both Ingrid and Sigrid, and I wasn’t aware of any Nazi associations with either.

I do think Svea and Liv would both be problematic in English-speaking countries. I actually think Lena would be fine and I love Linnea, which is my favourite of all your names!

I can speak fairly competent Swedish but really struggle with the correct pronunciation of Liv! I love Linnéa and Saga. Svea is lovely but I would worry about the right-wing connotations if they ever want to live in Sweden. I’m not too keen on Ingrid or Sigrid, possibly because of the hard ‘g’ like your DH.

Swede here with UK dh. I love Linnea, Liv and Alma. I don't like Svea/Sigrid/Ingrid but that's just personal preferencep.

Also to add my DDs are half Swedish and one has a version of Lena and the other of Anna but British people always mispronounce their names (or spell them wrong if they can say them) 🫣 So, just go with what you like and don’t worry too much.

Not Saga. It’s an insurance company for the elderly

I love Ingrid. Sigrid sounds like a boys name. Choose Svea and you and dd (when older) will have a lifetime correcting misprounciations and
misspellings.

I'm English but with a reasonable grasp of names and phonics in other European languages. I love Linnea and think this is much easier to get right than Lena, which I always want to pronounce 'Lyena' (the Russian pronunciation) or like 'Lenna'. I'm not familiar with Svea but agree with a poster above that the 'Sv' combination is a bit unnatural for native English speakers. Ingrid is better than Sigrid. Astrid better still IMO.

Absolutely love Svea now you’ve said how to pronounce it. It would only take telling people once. I’d go for that!

Also like Sigrid. Though… yeah, Siggie wouldn’t be a great nickname if that happened!

Love Linnea too.

Liv and Lena I think would be constantly mispronounced.

Saga I like but it is the oddest to English-speaking ears.

For some reason I just can’t like Ingrid. I class it with Heidi and find them both a bit home-spun and twee. That said, I knew a lovely Inge and she was a very classy lady. It’s not a bad name. Just a personal opinion. Shows you have to go with your own gut ultimately! People like what they like so individually.

Ingrid is very on trend in the US I think (live there). Old fashioned names are “in” for middle and upper middle class families. I also know two girls named Linnea. I think I know a Sigrid.

Svea will get mangled here.

Lena will probably be mispronounced but some people might remember Lena Olin. In parts of the Midwest and PNW Scandinavian names are fairly common so it would depend where you are.

Magnus and Svea sound great together too.

There are Ingrid in all countries (thanks to Bergman?). Personally I'm not a fan. Svea hard to pronounce and you don't want the far right connection. Can I suggest Alma? I only got boys and I'm done but would have loved to have a little Alma. It's an original name but easy to pronounce and it makes me think of an intelligent girl with character.

I used to like Greta as well but ofcourse everyone will think of Miss Thunberg. And it's a pain when a name gets too associated with a famous person. Although I would chose Greta over Melania every day 😅

i know an Ingrid who is called Inga.

i know a Lena but the pronunciation of that can be problematic with Lee-na, Lay-na and Len- ah

Svea is pretty but I suspect many UK people will mispronounce it.

I like Sigrid but she is very likely to get nicknamed “Siggy”, which I think is cute but you might not (and yes, is slang for a cigarette).

Ingrid perhaps isn’t as interesting to the UK ear, but that’s because it’s more familiar (and I don’t think it sounds harsh personally).

Of your other options, I really love Linnea - it’s such a pretty sound and reasonably well known. Saga is super cool, but possibly might invite teasing when older (“Saggy”). Lena isn’t the easy choice you think it is - some here do pronounce it as “Leena” instead. Liv is cool, but won’t be pronounced the Swedish way (and many will assume it’s short for Olivia, as that’s so popular here).

Frida?

Swedish person here!

I voted for Sigrid. Liv is a beautiful name, too.

We named our DD Ingrid for the first six weeks of her life, but then had a change of heart when we went to register her, and came home with a baby with a different name. But I do absolutely love the name. I sort of agree with your DH about the hard G. To my ears, it does make the name quite harsh, almost ugly. But that’s part of what I love about it. There are so many frilly, flowery, gentle sounding names around at the moment. Ingrid (and Sigrid) sound like they both mean business and wouldn’t tolerate much nonsense. I imagine a strong, educated woman bearing a name like this. I love Igraine too, but of course that’s not Swedish.

How about Lina? Not keen on the grids nor Saga or Liv.

I like Ingrid, but I agree with your husband about the sound.

I think Linnea would work very well. I'm in the US and know two aged under ten.

However, I think Lena has everything going for it. It's a gorgeous name.

Otherwise:
Alma
Vera
Maria
Anna
Ebba
Alva
Stella
Marta