Popular baby names in Finland, 2017

Flag of Finland
Flag of Finland

According to data from the Population Register Centre of Finland (Väestörekisterikeskus), the most popular baby names in Finland in 2017 were Aino and Leo.

Here are Finland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Aino, 319 baby girls
2. Eevi, 312
3. Emma, 311
4. Sofia, 302
5. Aada, 272
6. Ella, 259
7. Lilja, 253
8. Helmi, 251
9. Elli, 249
10. Enni and Venla, 247 each (tied)

Boy Names
1. Leo, 414 baby boys
2. Elias, 389
3. Eino, 331
4. Väinö, 316
5. Onni, 313
6. Leevi, 289
7. Niilo, 271
8. Oliver, 263
9. Eetu, 255
10. Noel, 253

In the girls’ top 10, Lilja and Enni replaced Pihla and Emilia. The #1 name, Aino, comes from a Finnish word meaning “only one.”

The boys’ top 10 contains the same names, but in a different order.

In 2016, the top names were Sofia and Onni.

Among the minority (about 6%) of Swedish speakers in Finland, the top baby names were Ellen and William.

Sources: De populäraste förnamnen av finskspråkiga barn som föddes år 2017 (PDF), De populäraste förnamnen av svenskspråkiga barn som föddes år 2017 (PDF), Name Service – PRC, Nordic Names Wiki

Image: Adapted from Flag of Finland (public domain)

4 thoughts on “Popular baby names in Finland, 2017

  1. How do you pronounce Aino? and the similarly spelled boys names Eino and Väinö?

  2. Here’s what they sound like to me:

    • Aino is EYE-noh (first syllable rhymes with “why” and “pie”)
    • Eino is AY-noh (first syllable rhymes with “way” and “pay”)
    • Väinö is VAH-ee-nuh
  3. Aino is EYE-no and Eino is AY-no. My grandfather was Finnish American and his first language was Finnish. Some of these names were used for Finns of his generation, though I am more used to seeing the variant Aina, which I think is prettier. It is pronounced EYE-na.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.