Conference turris::scandia

                You wouldn't  be  danish?    My two daughters have danish 
        names that pronounce  very  easily.    Pia and Anette (Annette is 
        just as Danish).  My wife's name is Kirsten and works out just as 
        well. (Mine works terribly).
        
        Anker

    Well, my grandmothers are Olga and Sigrid. Some others that spring
    to mind are Marta, Dagmar, Birgitta, Pia, Inga, Ingrid, Kirsten,
    and of course, my personal favorite - Kristen. Perhaps someone can
    get you a Swedish/Norwegian/Danish/Finnish phone book. There are
    many beautiful names. 
    
    Kristen.

    I thought of two more...Kari and Elsa.
    
    Kristen.

    Most of the names in the first reply have been either Swedish or
    Danish.  Finnish names can be very hard to pronounce, but here are
    some easier ones: Heli, Outi, Tuula, Auli, Liisa, Katriina.  I have
    three nieces whose names are Kukka-Maaria, Suvi-Tuulia and Pilvi-
    Paivikki (umlaut on the a in the second part of the name).  A friend
    of mine has a baby girl whose name is Charlotte Maria.  Looking
    at the previous reply; you might want to be careful with Kari, because
    in Finnish it is a boys' name.
    
    Sirkku Tuulikki (very hard to pronounce...)

    A couple of my favorites are Mariana and Hilde.
    

    Here are some more Finnish names:
    
    Liisa
    Tiina
    Kristiina
    Helin
    Seija (say ya')
    

    We used to call our grandmother, who came from Sweden, Lindy. I
    believe is is a nickname for Lindell, but not sure. 
    Anyway, I always thought it was a very nice name. (Hope you do too!).
    
    Dave

    
    I named my daughter Krista Marie,  and I am also fond of Thora,
    Maija, and Freda.
    
    	terveisin
    
    		\rik

    LOOKING FOR A BOYS NAME
    MY NAME IS STORM,BROTHERS ARE NEIL AND ERIC AND FATHER IS HANS
    I HAVE A BABY ON THE WAY AND AM LOOKING FOR SOME OTHER SUGGESTIONS
    ON NORWEGIAN OR SCANDINAVIAN NAMES FOR A BOY
    
    

    We named our son Andrew, thinking it a good Celtic name, forgetting
    that his maternal grandfather's name was Andrew (he goes by A. Delbert
    Peterson) and before that his maternal ancestors included three
    more by the name of Anders, although I'm not certain if that is
    the same root meaning as Andrew.  Anders may not go well with a
    name beginning with S.

    
    I have a son Kjell Erik..Kj is sounded like a Ch.. and a Daughter
    
    Kirsten Kai.. hope that these help and I am not too late.
    

    Kai would be a boy's name (at least in Finland and Sweden, spelled
    Kaj in Sweden).
    

    
    I am interested in finnish, swedish, norwegian names for a female. 
    I'd prefer one which does not have a common usage in the US. (For 
    example, 'Kristen' used to be unusual, but its now very common.) 
    I don't mind if it is difficult to spell/pronounce for english speakers.  
    (non-english vowels and letter combinations are fine)        
    Thanks for suggestions,   
    kristen

    Here comes some Swedish female names :
    
    Sofia, Anna, Johanna, Emma, Eva, Maria, Viktoria, Katarina, Karin,
    Karina, Elinor, Elin, Lena, Helena, Birgitta, Ing-Marie, Ingrid.
    
    

    
    	Hi Kristen!
    
    	Some of the more notable names I remember from Norway were Beate,
    Trude, Elin, Eli, Eli-Metta, Eva, Elisa, Ronhild (I don't have a
    compose character on this terminal.  That's with a o/) and many
    others.  I'll get my class list tonight and get more for you tomorrow
    if you'd like.
    
    						-Jerry
    

    Barbro och Britt

     
  how about HANNA AND ONE OF MY FAVORITE ANNA [my grandmother]
    charlotta

    
    ps to 77.9 
    another favorite is Annika [good in any scandinavian language]
    

    
    My Swedish grandmother's name was Anna Maja, pronounced like On-na
    My-ya.  (American's often mis-pronounce it like Ann with an "a" and
    May-a)   When pronounced properly, I think it's a very pretty name!!
    
        

    now i'm REALLY curious - what was final decision
    on the original note 137.0???
    
    [my favorites were Johan, Olaf, Bjarne, Hans, Steinar, ...]
    

    
    	My sister-in-law is expecting a baby in late November.  She asked
     	me to gather up some names.  Most of the names in the replies are 
    	female names.  Does anybody have any male names they would like to
    	suggest?
    
    	Thanks.

    I have a few other names that you can add to Neil's list...
    
    Neil's list included most of the "international type" scandinavian
    names.   The ones below may not be as good...here goes.
    
    Thor, Tor, Thorstein,Torbjorn,Roar, Harald, Haakan,Rolf,Steinar,
    Svein,Jon,Atler,Dag,Vidar,Martin,Peter,Geir,Torgeir,Ole,Arild,
    Frodar...
    

    Oops.  Borg is short for Borghild.

    Some more Finnish names:
    
    Miikka (my eldest son's name), Tapio (my youngest son's middle name),
    Ilkka (*my* father in law's name :-)), Jouko (my brother in law's name)
    
    Also ...
    
    Oiva, Matti, Pekka, ...

When I have a son, I hope to name him Leif Erik or Erik Leif

chad

    There are some other things that happen with names too.  My mother's
    maiden name is Lorentson, but in going back to the geneological data,
    the name dates back to Lars Lorenz.  I didn't understand it at first
    until someone told me that Lorent is latin for Lars.  I would never had
    figured on that!  I guess the farmers wanted to jazz up there name.
    
    >>>Ken (Hjalmarsson) Mattsson
    

    From: nareid@phys.unit.no (Helge Nareid)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Re: What's in a name
    Date: 8 May 91 13:55:28 GMT
    Sender: news@ugle.unit.no
    Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim
 
   The problem I've got with my name is that most English-speaking people
   assume it is a girl's name. There's no problem in Scandinavia, 
   everybody here knows that :
	Helge (ending with an E) is a man's name
	Helga (ending with an A) is a woman's name
   It is a (minor) source of irritation, however, to get letters 
   adressed to _Ms_ Helge Nareid all the time. The confusion normally
   ends when I meet people, however - a full beard does make a difference.
 
   - Helge
   -- 
   Helge Nareid                             E-mail :    nareid@phys.unit.no
   SINTEF Applied Physics                   Phone  :    + 47 - 7 - 59 34 18
   Trondheim, Norway                        Fax    :    + 47 - 7 - 59 34 20

That's as may be, but my wife's Norwegian name is Antonie and she gets
taken for a male all the time.  She's named after her grandfather, Anton.

	Good Danish Names for boys (boys in family):

	Jens, Gregers & Uffe


							Jens 

    From: 37247_1113@uwovax.uwo.ca (Truls Ostbye)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Norwegian unisex names (was "Kettil")
    Date: 17 Sep 91 02:42:59 GMT
 
    In article <1991Sep12.065520.13740@ugle.unit.no>,
    hallvard@immhp3.marina.unit.no (Hallvard Paulsen) writes:

   > 	And the fact that you allways can tell from the name what
   > sex a Norwegian is is a big differense from the US. I realy can't
   > understand how people can use the same name for boys and girls!
   > 
   > 	Hallvard (the horrible) Paulsen
 
    the examples below are some of the most common names found as both male
    and female first names in Norway (relatively high frequency of  both
    male and female names)
 
   f indicates most commonly used as female name
   m indicates most commonly used as male name
 
   Andy m
   Benny f
   Conny f
   Jacie m
   Jerry m
   Jone m
   Jonni m
   Jonny m
   Karly f
   Lindy f
   Michele f
   Nicola f
   Nikola m
   Sonny f
   Tonny f
   Tony m
   Eidis m
   Herlaug f
   Inge m
   Ingeleiv f
   Joerund m
   Kristen m
   Oleif m
   Oleiv m
   Orla m
   Rollaug f
   Sigrid f
   Joeran m
   Joerand f
   Soelve m
   Kim m
 
 
 
   -- 
   Truls 0stbye                                      Tel (519) 661 2111
   Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics      Fax (519) 661 3766
   University of Western Ontario                     OSTBYE@UWOVAX.BITNET
   London, Ontario N6A 5C1, CANADA                   OSTBYE@UWOVAX.UWO.CA

    From: tostbye@uwovax.uwo.ca
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Norwegian unisex names followup
    Date: 20 Sep 91 12:47:33 GMT
 
    Re: list of Norwegian unisex names
 
    Thanks to everybody who sent me e-mail re. the unisex name list.
 
    Several individuals suggested that this was a list of
    Norwegian-American names (from North Dakota, Minnesota etc.) given to
    American children of Norwegian descent.
 
    However, the source was "closer to home":
 
    Hva skal barnet hete? 
    Schibsteds forlag
    7. utgave, Oslo 1990

    "2000 gutte- og pike-navn som brukes i Norge, med opprinnelse og
    betydning... med bistand fra Justisdepartementet, Institutt for Nordisk
    Spraak og litteratur ved Universitetet i Oslo samt Prosjekt for
    datamaskinell  spraakbehandling ved Nordisk Institutt, Universitetet i
    Bergen"
 
    This book can be found in most Norwegian bookstores
 
    Truls

    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic,soc.roots
    From: andersa@Riga.DoCS.UU.SE (Anders Andersson)
    Subject: Swedish patronymics 
    Sender: news@corax.udac.uu.se
    Organization: Uppsala University, Sweden
    Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 21:22:06 GMT
 
    --
    Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University
    Paper Mail: Box 520, S-751 20 UPPSALA, Sweden
    Phone: +46 18 183170   EMail: andersa@DoCS.UU.SE
 
    --------- Text on Swedish patronymics follows ---------
 
    One important thing to keep in mind for the genealogist doing research
    in Sweden, is the Swedish use of patronymic last names, practiced until
    the middle to late 19th century.  Before then, very few among the
    general populace maintained any single family name over the generations
    (the primary exception was the nobility, but there were also other
    families of some rank that had their specific family names).
 
    Ordinary country people generally used patronymics.  When it was not
    sufficient to mention a person by his or her first (or rather only)
    name, such as "Maria" or "Anders", various qualifications were added,
    of which the dominant form was to specify who was the person's father,
    thus one talked about "Maria, Johans dotter" (daugther) or "Anders,
    Olofs son". This became so commonplace that it was shortened into
    "Maria Johansdotter" and "Anders Olofsson".  Thus one line of
    successive male descendants could look as follows (this is an example
    of an actual line, with approximate years of birth within parentheses):
 
	Daniel Bryngelsson (1710)
	Pehr Danielsson (1740)
	Jonas Persson (1770)
	Olof Jonasson (1800)
	Anders Olofsson (1830)
	Anders Andersson (1860)
 
    i.e. even though two persons were father and son in the same household,
    they didn't share their last names.  Women didn't change their names
    when they got married; a combination like "Maria Olofsson" would have
    been self-contradictory and unthinkable in those days.  Both first and
    last name were specific to each individual in a family.  If the father
    died and the mother remarried with a man having a different first name,
    the children from her first marriage maintained their original
    patronymic.
 
    Spelling wasn't crucial, and some names had several forms which were
    considered equal.  Thus the sons of Peter, Petter, Per or Pehr all had
    the 'same' last name:  Persson, Pehrsson or Pettersson.  Likewise,
    Olofsson was often shortened Olsson with no change in meaning, and the
    same with Johansson/Jonsson etc.
 
    What happened in the 19th century was no less than a naming revolution,
    by many judged as a cultural disaster.  Here I make no attempt to
    explain the reason for the change, as my knowledge of it is very
    limited.  The net effect was that unless the family adopted a
    non-patronymic surname, whatever patronymic name happened to be in use
    by the father was suddenly inherited by his children, men and women
    alike, and maybe also adopted by his wife.
 
    At the time of this writing, the abovementioned change took place some
    three generations ago.  Today the old practice is only in very limited
    use at a few (mostly rural) places in Sweden, something which has been
    made easier by recent changes to the Swedish name law.
 
    The rest of Scandinavia has a similar naming tradition, with -sen being
    a common replacement for -son in Denmark and Norway.  In Iceland, the
    patronymic practice lives on to this day.
 
    Thus, if you have a surname ending in -son, and Swedish ancestors who
    emigrated before ca 1900, the chance that you will find any relatives
    by looking up your surname in Swedish telephone directories of today is
    very slim, if not nonexistent.  At the time of the change, a lot of
    people adopted family names with no requirements of uniqueness, and as
    most patronymics were formed from very common, male first names,
    thousands of families all across Sweden ended up with surnames like
    Andersson (2700), Bengtsson (200), Eriksson (3000), Fredriksson (200),
    Gustafsson (1100), Jakobsson (200), Jansson (1500), Johansson (1900),
    Jonsson (500), Karlsson (2000), Larsson (1200), Mattsson (400), Nilsson
    (900), Olsson (900), Persson (700), Pettersson (1500), and Svensson
    (400), if we limit ourselves to names with at least 200 entries in the
    Uppsala telephone directory of some 80,000 subscribers (the approximate
    count for each name being mentioned in parentheses for comparison),
    without being particularly related to each other.
 
    This doesn't mean doing genealogy in Sweden is particularly difficult;
    on the contrary it's quite easy due to the availability of lots of
    written records.  You simply need to be aware of this phenomenon, and
    maybe take on a slightly different approach as compared to research in
    other countries.  However, a general introduction to genealogy in
    Sweden is outside the scope of this text.
 
    Please send comments on this document to Anders.Andersson@DoCS.UU.SE.
 
    --------- End of text on Swedish patronymics ---------

    	RE: .12
    
    	It has been awhile, but I thought I'd respond (Just in case anyone
    	is still or was interested).
    
    	She has three children now and their names are:
    
    			Ingrid
    			Eleanor (Actually I don't know which spelling she uses)
    			Magnus
    
    	BTW - Does any one know if `Wilmer' is or was popular?  Its my
    	      middle name and it was `handed down' to me from the Swedish side
    	      of my family.
    
    	Cheers,
    
    	David

          <<< Note 77.27 by METSYS::NELSON "Tribeless and Nomadic" >>>
                              -< Belated Update >-
    
<<    	BTW - Does any one know if `Wilmer' is or was popular?  Its my
<<    	      middle name and it was `handed down' to me from the Swedish side
<<    	      of my family.

FWIW, (I'm Swedish and) I've never met anybody else who bears that name.

Aha!  Somebody else who spells Sara correctly!

Chad with a sister Sara

Well, I haven't seen any of these names posted yet.  These are the names of 
my grandparents and some of their siblings....

	men:  Arvid, Axel, Bernt
      women:  Helmi, Alida, Augusta, Emily, Euphrosyne

Joan (3/4 Svenska)

    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    From: milch@Lise.Unit.NO (Frode Milch Pedersen)
    Subject: Norwegian name policy (Was: Re: patronymics)
    Sender: news@ugle.unit.no (NetNews Administrator)
    Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
    Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 14:29:55 GMT
 
    To all of you referring to the Norwegian policy on personal names -
    This is the policy stated by the Name Act of 1964 (extracts):
 
  "As first names may not be chosen:      
   
    1. names that can be of inconvenience to the bearer of the name,
    2. names that are or have been last names and are not originally first 
       names."
 
  "Permission [to change last name] should normally not be granted for:
   
    1. names that sound foreign or with foreign spelling,
    2. names that are used as first names and not originally are last names,
    3. historical, extinct or foreign names, when the name is commonly known
       in Norway,
    4. names that can be offensive or be of inconvenience to the bearer of the
       name."
 
    "If a more common last name is applied for, it should be granted,
    unless special reasons say otherwise. If the last name does not belong
    to the more common, permission may only be  given with approval of the
    ones who already bear that last name."
 
    ("more common" means at least 500 bearers of the name, so if you want a
    less common name, you have to find all the bearers of it and ask for
    their written permission!)
 
    Further:
 
  "Permission should not be given when such a name is applied for, that it
   reminds of the name of a commonly known company, trade mark, or other
   protected name in Norway, or commonly known name of an institution,
   pseudonym, artist name, less common names of farms or similar, and it
   can be assumed that the rightful owner of the name might suffer if the
   applicant is allowed to take the name."
 
    and finally,
 
 "No one may use a name that he is not entitled to by this law. Neither may
  someone change the spelling of a legal name unless entitled to by this law."
 
    However it says nothing about what they'll do to you if you break this
    law!
 
  -- Frode