Scandinavian baby names

lest12

DH is Finnish, and our last name is verrrrry Finnish. We've been looking at Scandinavian baby names to honor his heritage... I am having a tough time because as much as I want to chose a Scandinavian name, they all sound pretty foreign to me and don't quite roll off my tounge! Plus, my family is really Italian and I don't want something that is completely foreign to them, either. It's tough. So... Looking for opinions. For a boy, our front runner is Gunnar. Second choice is Mikko. Third would be to do Jr - DH is Nils which I love but he thinks a jr is weird. For girl names, I really like and keep coming back to Tippi, like Tippi Hedren. These are about all we can agree with right now! Any thoughts? Too far out there? I know they will not be everyone's personal style... If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd love them!

Fluffycakes

Antonia/Antonio

Carina

Eva

Irena/Irina

Leonardo

Luisa/Louisa

Matteo/Matthias

Marco

Pieter

Rebecca

Sonja

Sylvia

lest12)    ;;)  

noryang

Gunner is an often used pet name so its not the direction I would go. Tippi is also - very easily ridiculed. Juniors are NMS. 

What if you expanded your search parameters a bit to celtic type names?  

saham07

Love Gunnar and Tippi is cute....is it a nn for something?

WashingtonQueen

I really like Soren.

MrsAery-to-be

WashingtonQueen said:

I really like Soren.

Agreed, but then again its DS2's name

noryang

MrsAery-to-be said:

I really like Soren.

Agreed, but then again its DS2's name

Me three. But DH is a little less sure.  We have also discussed Kian and Kalen. 

Jags8

Boy:
Anders
Aron
August
Erik
Finn
Fredrik
Hans
Henrik
Kristoffer
Mats
Mikael
Sven
Viktor

Girls:
Anja
Annelie
Astrid
Britta
Carina/Karina
Cathrine
Cecilie
Elisabet
Elise
Else
Hanna
Heidi
Kristin
Laila
Mikaela
Sunniva

jgengo0

Dh is Norwegian and the name Elin and freya were high on our list of girl names.

lest12

saham07 said:

Love Gunnar and Tippi is cute....is it a nn for something?

Not that I can find anywhere!

I am way more stuck on Tippi than Gunnar, to be honest.

@noryang, no, no celtic names. Finnish or bust!

Although we briefly considered Finn which is celtic, not Scandinavian.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

blue+skies

My faves are Leif and Elsa!

nittanyllama

Love some of the suggestions -- Lief, Soren, Hans, Elsa, Astrid, Elise, Sylvia.

I don't love Gunnar. Mikko is ok. Don't care for Tippi. Sorry!

lest12

See, we both really liked Leif and it is so distinctly Scandinavian... But we were worried people would just think we were being hippies (like, Leaf, not Leif).  Maybe that should go back on the table!

DH really likes Mikko (Miko?) and I don't mind it, but... even though I know it is a Finnish name, all I hear is Greek.

Thanks, @bromios!  I wish I had heard the language spoken more so I could get a feel for it.  I'd love to go there with DH some day.  For now, I have trouble knowing if I'm pronouncing correctly.  Like Ilta - is that Ill-tah?  Or Ita (like how Ilsa has the silent L?)  Kirsi is pretty too.

I like Soren.  I haven't heard that before. 

I also personally love Sylvia but DH hates it.  Boo!

I think my other problem (I'm throwing thoughts down here at this point, sorry!) is that I like to be able to associate the name with things I know - like, Tippi = Tippi Hedren = The Birds, which I loved her in.  Positive association.  It is difficult to do that with all names though, lol.

Regufsevolem

DS was going to be Gunnar, I love that name still. 

leahmary82

Soren is my favorite Scandinavian boy name. Erik, Boden, Anders, Dirk, Garth, Thor, Karsten are nice. For girls: Hanna, Maija (that is our top girl name), Anika, Amalia, Annelise, Eva, Linnea, Laila, Thora, Sanna.

ho11yday

I've fallen in love with Inge/Inga especially for a girl. As for Leif, I say go for it and don't worry about the hippie association; I definitely think Scandinavian before I think hippie (but isn't there a distinct difference in the pronunciation?). Then again, when I hear Lennon, I still think of the communist not the Beatle.

KristaU831

Karina and Krista are both scandinavian names 

binosmith

a couple girl names that i love from my Finnish great great grandmothers and a gg aunt are 

Brita (bree ta) this was prob originally spelled w a P and americanized with a B due to pronunciation)

Maagie (maggie)

Senia (sen ya)

binosmith

should be Briita

lest12

Thanks again, guys!  I am making a little list to go over with DH.  I appreciate the help

cafecreme

love love love:

Annika (nn annie)

Britta (nn brit)

Elsa

Janna (nn Jan)

Katrine (nn Kat)

Gunnar is my favorite boys name out of those. 

Eilis123

I know a Sanna from Finland, and I always thought that was a pretty name. I'm Swedish, and my two daughters are Annika and Elsa. Linnea is also family middle name on my mom's side.