Baby Name: Nova

Last year, the Scandinavian country of Sweden welcomed 98,451 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Alma and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2024:

Girl names

1. Alma, 568 baby girls
2. Alice, 565
3. Olivia, 552
4. Elsa, 550
5. Vera, 546
6. Saga, 486
7. Selma, 484
8. Astrid, 473
9. Ella, 472
10. Signe, 458
11. Freja, 455
12. Ellie, 454
13. Stella, 427
14. Alba, 408
15. Maja, 398
16. Agnes, 373
17. Alva, 367
18. Leah, 350
19. Hedda, 346
20. Ebba, 340
21. Mila, 322
22. Luna, 319
23. Lilly, 310
24. Wilma, 303
25. Iris, 300
26. Ines, 291
27. Juni, 290
28. Alicia, 288
29. Sigrid, 283
30. Ellen, 254
31. Ester, 251
32. Leia, 248
33. Nora, 244
34. Majken, 242
35. Lykke, 241
36. Julia, 238
37. Lily, 237 (tie)
38. Molly, 237 (tie)
39. Edith, 227
40. Hilma, 224
41. Elvira, 222
42. Sally, 216
    • It’s so interesting to see Sally rising in Sweden. (It entered Sweden’s top 100 around 2013.) In the U.S., Sally has never made the top 50 — but it did come close in the late 1930s.
43. Celine, 211
44. Clara, 205
45. Nova, 198
46. Ingrid, 194
47. Ilse, 190
48. Livia, 189
49. Bonnie, 185 (tie)
50. Esther, 185 (tie)

Boy names

1. Noah, 692 baby boys
2. William, 574
3. Hugo, 567
4. Liam, 548
5. Adam, 538 (tie)
6. August, 538 (tie)
7. Nils, 527
8. Leo, 515
9. Oliver, 514
10. Otto, 491
11. Sam, 490
12. Alfred, 482
13. Elias, 478
14. Malte, 463
15. Leon, 422
16. Frans, 420
17. Charlie, 404
18. Ludvig, 396
19. Ted, 377
20. Theo, 376
21. Valter, 375
22. Olle, 371
23. Gabriel, 347
24. Arvid, 345
25. Elliot, 343 (tie)
26. Lucas, 343 (tie)
27. Tage, 328
28. Harry, 320
29. Henry, 303 (tie)
30. Theodor, 303 (tie)
31. Björn, 291
32. Ebbe, 285
33. Vincent, 284
34. Walter, 280
35. Alexander, 277 (tie)
36. Adrian, 277 (tie)
37. Benjamin, 272
38. Oscar, 264 (tie)
39. Melker, 264 (tie)
40. Elton, 260
41. Jack, 259
42. Noel, 258
43. Axel, 251
44. Kian, 244
45. Viggo, 229
46. Albin, 225
47. Ivar, 224
48. Lukas, 223
49. Matteo, 218
50. Julian, 217 (tie)
51. Levi, 217 (tie)

In the girls’ top 10, Saga replaced Ellie.

In the boys’ top 10, Leo and Otto replaced Elias and Sam.

Four of the fastest-rising names were Celine and Junie (for girls) and Bo and Björn (for boys).

Lower down in the rankings I spotted…

• Penny (65 girls)
  • Five more were named Pennie.
• Tindra (23 girls) – means “to twinkle” in Swedish
• Buster (10 boys)
• Tintin (6 girls, 4 boys)
• Texas (8 boys, 1 girl)
  • Three more boys were named Tex, Texan, and Texaz.
• Grim (7 boys)
• Tibelia (5 girls)
• Fenrir (4 boys) – a giant wolf in Norse mythology
• Figge (4 boys) – a nickname for Fredrik
• Styrbjörn (3 boys)
• Lioness (2 girls)
• Valiant (2 boys)

And here’s a sampling of the thousands of names that were bestowed just once in Sweden last year:

Some definitions/explanations for a few of the above:

• Allikin is the main character of the Swedish children’s book Allikin (1986) by Runo Lindskog.
• Borealis is a Latin word meaning “northern.”
• Frigg is a Norse goddess.
  • The word Friday comes from the Old English word frigedæg, meaning “Frigg’s day.”
• Hafdís is an Icelandic name made up of elements meaning “sea” and “goddess.”
• Hjälte means “hero” in Swedish.
• Jojje is a diminutive of Georg, the Swedish form of George.
• Khangarid is the Mongolian name for Garuda, a mythical bird-like deity in Hinduism and Buddhism.
  • The emblem of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, features a Khangarid.
• Lindorm refers to a mythical snake-like creature in Nordic folklore.
• Päivi is a diminutive of the Finnish name Päivikki, which is based on the word päivä, meaning “day.”
• Prodromos is an Ancient Greek word meaning “forerunner.”
• Unnati is a Sanskrit word meaning “ascending” or “advancement.”

Sources:

• Namn på nyfödda – Skatteverket
• Alma och Noah vanligaste namnen hos nyfödda – Skatteverket (Jan. 2025)
• Björn och Bo – två av fjolårets trendande bebisnamn – Skatteverket (Jan. 2025)
• Födda i Sverige – SCB
• Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)