Skip to main content

20 Scandi Names You Should Use

Lærke (LAYR-kuh), a girl’s name meaning “lark.”

Signy (SIG-nee) is an Old Norse girl’s name meaning “new victory.”

Dagny (DAHG-nee), a Scandinavian girl’s name meaning “new day.”

Mikkel is the Danish and Norwegian form of Michael.

Randi (RAHN-dee) is a modern Scandinavian girl’s name with the elements “advice” and “beautiful.”

Torny (TOR-nee), a Norwegian girl’s name that developed with Thora, meaning “new thunder.”

Anders, the Scandinavian form of Andrew, meaning “masculine.”

Andor (ANN-dor), a Norse boy’s name meaning “Thor’s eagle.”

Gerda (GER-dah), a Scandinavian from Old Norse girl’s name meaning “enclosure.” I think of folklore and fairytales and ancient quaint towns when I see this, so I think the right little girl could breathe new life into this oldie.

Pernille (PER-nill) is the Danish and Norwegian form of Petronilla, meaning “yokel” or “stone.”

Carsten / Karsten (KAR-sten) is a Low German, Danish and Norwegian boy’s name cognate with Christian.

Saga is a girl’s name that means “seeing one” in Old Norse.

Bergljót / Bergliot (both BERG-lee-ott), a girl’s name meaning “light, protection.” I have a feeling most Americans would wrinkle their noses at this option, but it is very fun to say and I personally think it’s quite beautiful.

Berit (BEE-ritt), which is Scandinavian, and Birgitta (BEER-geet-tuh), which is Icelandic, Swedish and Finnish,

Kennet is the Scandinavian form of Kenneth.

Maiken is the Danish and Norwegian form of Maria.

Runa is a female name meaning “rune.”

Sander is the Dutch, Danish and Norwegian form of Alexander.

Loki means “to break” and is a well known Norse mythology name.

Elina (el-LEE-nah, ELL-in-uh) is the Finnish and Swedish form of Helen. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Massimo

Today's name: Massimo (male) Pronunciation: MAH-see-moh Potential nicknames: Masi, Simo, Max Origin: Along with Massimiliano, Massimo is the Italian variant of the Latin name Maximilian (which was the name of three Roman emperors and a few saints), meaning "greatest." Popularity: Massimo did not rank on the top 1000 baby names in 2010, but there were 148 baby boys born named Massimo and 5 named Massimiliano. In 2011 there were 107 named Massimo. Fun fact: (1) The name Maksim is also a variant of Maximilian. (2) Massimo has been the surname of many powerful Roman families. (3) Saint Massimo, a 5th century bishop. (4) Massimo D'Alema, Italian Prime Minister. (5) Massimo Capra, Canadian celebrity chef. .

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...

Elowen

Elowen is a recent Cornish baby name meaning "elm." It may not take off in America like the last Cornish hit, Jennifer, but it's certainly pretty. She's part of a "linguistic revival," as Appellation Mountain puts it  here . Her nickname could be Ellie, Elle or Ella, or a more unusual choice, Wendy. The pronunciation of Elowen is "ell-LOH-en," though most Americans will probably stick with "ELL-oh-wen." Please note that it is not spelled Elowyn. There is a similar name, Eowyn, but if you spell it Elowyn it will no longer be the Cornish name meaning elm tree, just some creative name. Other great Cornish names include Penrose, Chesten (the Cornish form of Christine), Demelza, Denzel, Hammitt, Kerensa/Kerenza, Meraud (very similar to French gem name Emeraude, both meaning emerald, but Meraud is pronounced "meh-row"), Merryn, Morwenna, Tremain, Emblyn, Jory, Massen, Treeve and Cotton. Here's 's a link to a post on Cornish n...