Norwegian Baby Names
The popularity of names are always changing. Many of the most popular names in Norway today, were also popular more than a hundred years ago. One example is the use of
Names from the Bible.
But in 1974, the name was back on the Top 10 list. In 2010 it was still number 8 in the popularity list.The use of biblical names now seems to be over the height, and 22% of new born children in Norway in 2010, was given biblical names. The largest increase in popularity had the names Amalie and Solveig for girls , and Sigurd and Mathias for boys.Seen over a longer period of time, the increase in popularity is on top for Linnea, Leah, Ella and Olivia for girls, and Lucas, Leon, William, Liam and Aksel for boys. A hundred years ago there was the custom of using combination names. When a Norwegian baby's name was decided, the parents often chose several names for their baby. Three, four or even five names were not unusual, like Lars Kornelius Kristoffer, or Anna Petrine Fredrikke Antoinette.The use of several names has a long tradition. The custom was to include the names of parents, grandparents, or relatives even further back in the family history.When using many names, it was also quite common that one of the names would have some royal "connection", or the names were taken from the Bible.During the last 20 years it has been typical to only have one first name, but now we can see that two first names are coming back into favor. In the old tradition, the wife takes her husband's last name by marriage, but now it's more common for a woman to keep her maiden name. Then the babies are given two last names: Both the mother's and the father's last name.The use of names also differs for different parts of Norway. In Oslo, there are a lot of new inhabitants from Muslim countries, and the number one name for newborn children in Oslo in 2010 was Mohammad. Norwegian Name TraditionsIn the old, Norwegian name tradition, it was customary to have three names. The first name was the most important one, and was a person’s Christening name, such as John, Knut, Kari or Anne.Before 1800, the norm was to use one christening name, especially in the countryside. During the 1800's, it became more common for a person to have two or even more first names.In addition to the first name, a person was identified through his or her father’s name, like Knut Hansen. The name of this person’s father was Hans, and the normal norm here would be Hansson (son of Hans). But as Danish was the only form of writing, it was usually written "-sen", Hansen. For a girl, that would be Hansdatter (daughter of Hans). During the late 1800’s, these names began to be used as last names. Also, the women got their "-sen" names. So Kari, daughter of Hans, became Kari Hansen. Before the late 1800’s, it was common to have a third name for a person. This name was telling where you lived, the name of the place or village where you have had settled. If you lived in a place called Eide, your name was Knut Eide. Source:Ronald Toppe (toppe.org) Almost 70% of the Norwegian population have names related to farms. There are no other European countries where last names refer to names of farms like in Norway. (source: slekt.no) Really old first names for boys, like Gudbrand, Jostein and Halvdan are no longer common Norwegian names, but over time many old names are coming back. To find out more you can read more about Norwegian boys' names here The same is true for Norwegian girls' names. In the old days you could find Asbjørg, Stella and Ragna as some of the most common names, but today they are almost never used. You can read more about Norwegian girls' names here Girls' names 1900 - 1999The girls' name Anna had its most popular period in the 1800's, until 1918. Now it has become popular again. After the Anna-period it was Solveig and Astrid, until Anne took it all around 1940. In 1958, 5.5% of all the newborn girls in Norway were named Anne.In 1985 the name Silje was the most popular name, given to 2.7% of newborn girls. In the more recent years, no girl’s name has reached more than 2%. These are the most common first names for girls for the period 1900 - 1999 (name and number of persons) Boys' names 1900 - 1999The century started for the boys with the name Johan as the most popular name. It had its best time in the 1800's. A few years before 1905, Olav took over, and then the name Arne enjoyed a long period of popularity. In 1923, 4% of the all boys were named Arne. From 1940, the name Arne took over the lead and remained at the top for the next 35 years!After 1980, the most popular names have been Thomas, Kristian and Martin.However, in 2008 Thomas was not on the Top-20 list at all, while Kristian was number five and Martin was number 19.These are the most used first-name first names for boys in the period 1900 - 1999: (Source: Statistics Norway) Link to other resources
Swedish NamesThe names that is most popular in Norway, is usually first popular in Sweden. The most popular names in Sweden in 2010 was:Girl's namesBoy's namesFor those of you who can read Norwegian language, here you can see the meaning of your name: From Norwegian Baby Names to Norwegian Boys' Names From Norwegian Baby Names to Norwegian Girls' Names From Norwegian Baby Names to Biblical Boys' Names From Norwegian Baby Names to Biblical Girls' Names From Norwegian Baby Names to Old-Norse Boys' Names From Norwegian Baby Names to Old-Norse Girls' Names |
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