Norwegian parents remain fond of naming their baby girls “Nora,” while “Jakob” was the most popular name for little boys last year. An annual survey shows little change over the past few years.
A total of 416 baby girls were named “Nora” last year, which has roots back to Ibsen literature and saw a surge in popularity after the Norwegian TV series Skam became a hit along with its character named Nora. A total of 422 boys, meanwhile, were named “Jakob” or “Jacob.” The most popular boys’ names show a trend towards using Biblical names, or variations thereof.
Another stable trend, according to Jon Olav Folsland of state statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway), is that the most popular girls’ names are short and end with the letter “a,” like Nora, Emma, Ella, Maya, and Olivia. They topped the list, followed by Emilie, Sofie/Sophie, Leah/Lea, Sofia/Sophia and Ingrid.
The 10 most-used names for boys last year were Jakob/Jacob, Emil, Noah/Noa, Oliver, Filip/Fillip/Philip/Phillip, William, Lukas/Lucas, Liam, Henrik and Oskar/Oscar.
None of the most popular names for either boys or girls contains the Norwegian vowels æ, ø or å, possibly because of the challenges they pose in email addresses or other international communication. Many parents seem to be opting for short and simple names that can be more easily understood and pronounced worldwide.
newsinenglish.no staff
