Help with Scandinavian Boy Names--Poll Time!

[evjolin]

Full disclosure....all but 4 of these are family names. Most are more distant family (great grandparents, etc.) but one is my husband's name and one is his brother's name. We are both Scandinavian, and both are leaning towards a name that reflects our heritage. Wondering what you think!! Oh--and our last name is Andersen. Thanks!! For some reason boy names seem SO much harder to me than girl ones.....

[gillibean]

I really like Nils but I'd be concerned that having the 's' at the end followed by the 'a' at the beginning of your surname would make people sometimes think your surname was Sandersen instead of Andersen.

I voted for Soren because I think it's my favourite of the names ending in 'n'.

[Lauren31]

Johan is so cute!

[RedOakMomma]

I LOVE Leif and Johan! I didn't vote for the rest of the names because most of them are -yn sounding endings. Too popular right now...look at the top 50 boys names and about 75% of them seem to end in the -yn sound.

Leif is AWESOME...wish I had the Scandinavian roots, too, so I could use it!

[Pinoikoi]

I like Leif (I know a couple IRL), but it wasn't pronounced the way you have it there, so I didn't pick it.

You have some nice choices, though!

I know a really nice altar boy named Dane.

[JenBuckyfan]

You have some great choices! I voted for Nils, Nolan, Leif, Bjorn and Dane. IRL I also know a Nels. I grew up with a Leif (pronounced Leaf and chosen because of its Scandnavian roots) and a Bjorn. Nolan was on my list of boys' names but it didn't catch DH's eye (the one of us that is Scandanavian!) - though I think it's a pretty popular choice these days, I know of 3 kids (2 babies) with the name Nolan. However, I still like it and wouldn't hesitate to name the baby that if it's a favorite. There really aren't any names on the list that I don't like! Good luck!

[evjolin]

woohoo--thanks this is super helpful. and yes--leif can also be pronounced "layf", which i also like....

[linchi]

I feel so qualified to answer as we conceived while living in Scandinavia! We still have some friends that we joke around with, calling our soon to be born son Ulf!
Bjorn is quite popular now. I'm sure you know it means bear and isn't a traditional first name. I quite like it.
I also really like the name Dane!
My favorite though is Leif.

I don't know which ones are in your family, but I hope my votes help a bit!

[evjolin]

thanks linchi!! bjorn is actually my brother in law's name. and a name i have always loved. in sweden do most people pronounce leif "leaf" or "layf"?? i really like it both ways....

[mataji4]

We have Norwegian heritage. Our youngest is Bjorn. Asbjorn is on our family tree but we liked Bjorn better.

It's my understanding that Leif is pronounced like Laf (a long a like in rake). It's a subtle difference. We met a Leif pronounced this way, and his father was Norwegian and was very very insistent. So maybe it can be said different ways in different parts of Scandinavia?

[momasana]

I love the name Soren.

[evjolin]

nice. thanks! we have norwegian on dh's side, and i am 1/2 swedish, 1/4 danish, and 1/4 english. love the votes, keep em coming!!

[jeannineb]

My ex husb is a Norwegian citizen and we lived in Norway for about 1 1/2 yrs. I remember Leif being pronounced more like "Life". Aaaalmost with 2 vowel sounds in the middle "Lieef" but very subtle. My ex is from Stavanger which has a different dialect than Oslo, but that is how he would have said it.

[Ashes]

I blinked a few times when I saw this thread. I am Danish (was born there and moved to Canada when I was 2.) I have a VERY Scandinavian name, which is hard to pronounce in English. I married a 5th Gen Canadian and we have a very boring English name (sorry!). So I wanted strikingly Scandinavian names for my kids, that were easy to use in English.

We have one son named Erik. I think it is the perfect Scandinavian boy name.

I am pregnant again but no idea if it is a girl or a boy.

My girl name is Annika. Easy peasy.

Boys names?!?!? SOoooooooOOOOOo hard!!!!

I can't use Soren (love it) as it is my cousin's name.

I adore Christian, and Torsten. Torsten would be a bit hard for some North American's to pronounce I think.

I was thinking of using the name Kaj. But this also poses problems of pronounciation. Argh it is so hard.

Matthias is another option, but it is more Swedish than Danish. Mads is the Danish version of Matthew, but it sounds too "different" in English.

Should be cool to hear what you eventually chose

[*Aimee*]

Oooh my favorite! my DH's family is Swedish and I have 3 boys with Scandinavian names.

DS1 is Rune DS2 is Leif (we pronounce it Layf) and DS3 is Lars. DS3 is only 5 days old. We almost named him Nils but I was worried because DH is a computer programmer and Nil is used a lot as 0 and I didn't like that. So we went with Lars.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by Ashes

I adore Christian, and Torsten. Torsten would be a bit hard for some North American's to pronounce I think.

Matthias is another option, but it is more Swedish than Danish. Mads is the Danish version of Matthew, but it sounds too "different" in English.

I love Torsten!

And my son is Matthias, but the english version like Muh-thigh-us rather than Muh-tie-us

[zinemama]

I like Soren and Nels the best.

My least favorite is Torsten, which sounds like some mutant cyborg. And Christian (unless of course you are Christians.)

[ladyelms]

i have norwegian heritage and am considering thor, or thorin. i love anouk for a girl but would never work w/ my last name.

soren's my fave from your list.

[ColwynsMommy]

I like Torsten and Soren best, but Leif is up there, too.

I'm 1/4 Icelandic and we picked Icelandic middle names for both boys.. but didn't realize their names meant the same thing. Thorsteinn (Thor's Stone) and Halldor (Thor's Rock). I'm looking for a Thor-related middle name for this little boy, we might go with Torin which is Celtic but means thunder/Thor.

I think all your choices are great!

[pajamajes]

I love Scandinavian names! It's not my heritage. I just like the way they sound. My favorites from your list are Dane, Johan, Soren, and Lief - in that order. ladyelms and ColwynsMommy, I like Thor names too. Thorin is my favorite name ever.