Last year, the Scandinavian country of Norway (which shares a border with three other countries: Sweden, Finland, and Russia) welcomed 51,480 babies — over 25,000 girls and nearly 26,500 boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Nora for girls, and tie between Jakob and Noah for boys.
Here are Norway’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
- Nora/Norah/Noora, 359 baby girls
- Emma, 337
- Olivia, 331
- Ella, 326
- Sofie/Sophie, 315
- Leah/Lea, 288
- Frida, 269
- Iben, 266 (tie)
- Sofia/Sophia, 266 (tie)
- Sara/Sarah/Zara, 262
- Maja/Maya/Maia, 258
- Ingrid, 253
- Alma, 249
- Selma, 247
- Emilie, 243
- Ada, 242
- Astrid/Astri, 235
- Hedda, 233
- Anna, 218
- Amalie, 211
- Ellinor, 210
- Aurora, 208
- Hedvig, 205
- Tiril/Tirill, 203
- Hanna/Hannah, 198
- Eva, 195
- Jenny, 186
- Mia, 184
- Vilde, 180
- Mathilde/Matilde, 177
- Ida, 176
- Lilly/Lily, 172
- Linnea/Linea/Linnéa, 163 (tie)
- Live, 163 (tie)
- Marie, 151
- Ellie, 150
- Sigrid, 149
- Thea, 145
- Julie, 143
- Amelia, 142 (tie)
- Luna, 142 (tie)
- Amanda, 141 (tie)
- Solveig, 141 (tie)
- Tuva, 139
- Mie, 133
- Agnes, 131
- Josefine/Josephine, 129
- Hermine, 121 (3-way tie)
- Signe, 121 (3-way tie)
- Ylva, 121 (3-way tie) – based on the Old Norse word ulfr, meaning “wolf.”
Boy Names
- Jakob/Jacob, 414 baby boys (tie)
- Noah/Noa, 414 (tie)
- Emil, 405 (tie)
- Lucas/Lukas, 405 (tie)
- Oliver, 382
- Isak/Isac/Isaac, 381
- William, 348
- Filip/Philip/Fillip/Phillip, 343
- Aksel/Axel, 321 (tie)
- Theodor/Teodor, 321 (tie)
- Ludvig/Ludvik, 310
- Oskar/Oscar, 300
- Liam, 282
- Johannes, 280
- Elias, 277
- Kasper/Casper/Kacper, 276
- Magnus, 270 (tie)
- Tobias, 270 (tie)
- Henrik, 263
- Mathias/Matias, 247 (tie)
- Olav, 247 (tie)
- Viktor/Victor/Wiktor, 235
- Ulrik, 230
- Matheo, 223
- Adam, 215
- Gustav, 208
- Muhammad/Mohammad/Mohammed/Mohamed/Muhammed, 206
- Sander, 205
- Alfred, 203
- Håkon/Haakon, 201 (tie)
- Theo/Teo, 201 (tie)
- Herman/Hermann, 185
- Benjamin, 179
- Jonas, 178
- Mikkel, 174
- Odin, 165
- Birk, 164
- Johan, 163 (tie)
- Leon, 163 (tie)
- Felix, 162
- Even, 157 (tie)
- Sebastian, 157 (tie)
- Vetle, 156 – based on the Old Norse word vetrliði, meaning “winter-farer,” and, by extension, “bear cub” (i.e., a bear that has lived one winter).
- Iver, 155
- Leo, 150
- Jens, 144 (tie)
- Markus/Marcus, 144 (tie)
- Alexander/Aleksander, 140
- Kristian/Christian, 133
- Sverre, 132 – based on the Old Norse verb sverra, meaning “to spin or swirl about,” and, by extension, “troublemaker.”
The two fastest-climbing names were Birk, which rose from 70th to 37th on the boys’ list, and Hedvig, which rose from 38th to 23rd on the girls’ list.
Home to more than 5.4 million people, Norway is — at the moment — divided into 11 administrative regions, or “counties.” (The original 19 counties were reduced to 11 in 2020; the current 11 counties will be expanded to 15 in 2024.)
The top baby names within each of Norway’s 11 counties last year were…
| Girl names | Boy names | |
| Viken | 1. Olivia, 85 2. Leah, 76 3. Ella, 75 4. Emma, 71 5. Ingrid, 67 | 1. Noah, 102 2. Oliver, 97 3. Jakob, 95 4. Theodor, 88 5. Filip/Lucas/Oskar, 81 each (3-way tie) |
| Oslo | 1. Sofia, 63 2. Hedvig, 56 3. Nora, 50 4. Sofie, 48 5. Ada/Anna, 47 each (tie) | 1. Mohammad, 77 2. Jakob, 65 3. Olav, 59 4. Noah, 57 (tie) 5. William, 57 (tie) |
| Vestland | 1. Ella, 52 2. Nora, 51 3. Emma, 50 4. Sara, 43 5. Sofie, 41 | 1. Emil, 61 2. Jakob, 53 3. Oliver, 48 4. Ulrik, 47 5. Lucas, 44 |
| Rogaland | 1. Sara, 37 2. Frida, 36 3. Maja, 32 (3-way tie) 4. Nora, 32 (3-way tie) 5. Sofie, 32 (3-way tie) | 1. Emil, 43 2. Noah, 42 3. Filip, 38 (tie) 4. Oliver, 38 (tie) 5. Lucas, 35 |
| Trøndelag | 1. Selma, 33 2. Ada, 32 (4-way tie) 3. Emma, 32 (4-way tie) 4. Leah, 32 (4-way tie) 5. Nora, 32 (4-way tie) | 1. Emil, 50 2. Oliver, 47 3. Aksel, 46 (tie) 4. Isak, 46 (tie) 5. Magnus, 38 |
| Vestfold og Telemark | 1. Nora, 30 2. Olivia, 28 3. Ella, 23 4. Iben, 21 5. Emma/Sofie, 20 each (tie) | 1. Emil, 34 (tie) 2. Noah, 34 (tie) 3. Lucas, 33 4. William, 31 5. Jakob, 29 |
| Innlandet | 1. Aurora, 25 (tie) 2. Sofie, 25 (tie) 3. Ella, 24 4. Emma/Ingrid/Nora/Olivia, 22 each (4-way tie) | 1. Emil, 35 2. Lucas, 31 3. Magnus, 29 4. Filip, 28 5. Oliver, 25 |
| Agder | 1. Emma, 31 (tie) 2. Olivia, 31 (tie) 3. Nora, 27 4. Ella, 26 5. Leah, 24 | 1. Lucas, 40 2. Isak, 27 (tie) 3. Theodor, 27 (tie) 4. Henrik, 26 (tie) 5. Noah, 26 (tie) |
| Møre og Romsdal | 1. Anna, 18 (tie) 2. Nora, 18 (tie) 3. Olivia, 17 (tie) 4. Selma, 17 (tie) 5. Alma/Aurora/Emma, 16 each (3-way tie) | 1. Noah, 26 2. Kasper, 22 3. Emil, 20 (tie) 4. Isak, 20 (tie) 5. Lucas, 19 |
| Troms og Finnmark | 1. Ella, 18 2. Anna, 16 3. Amalie/Astrid/Emilie/Maja/Olivia/Sigrid, 14 each (6-way tie) | 1. Jakob, 27 2. Isak, 25 3. Emil, 23 4. Johannes, 22 5. Elias, 19 |
| Nordland | 1. Nora, 21 2. Ella, 15 (tie) 3. Iben, 15 (tie) 4. Emma/Frida/Ingrid/Signe, 12 each (4-way tie) | 1. Isak, 29 2. Jakob, 24 3. Filip/Henrik/William, 17 each (3-way tie) |
And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum?
Single-use names were given to nearly 8% of the baby girls and 7% of the baby boys born in Norway last year. We don’t have access to these unique names — the country doesn’t release names given to three or fewer babies per year (due to privacy concerns) — but here’s a selection of the names given to four babies:
| Rare girl names | Rare boy names |
| Aase, Agathe, Annabelle, Anneli, Anny, Aud, Azra, Bjørg, Borghild, Cassandra, Cecilia, Daria, Eden, Elizabeth, Emely, Felicia, Gabrielle, Grete, Helen, Helin, Henrikke, Irina, Kamila, Kate, Kaya, Leni, Lidia, Marita, Martyna, Nadine, Norunn, Ragne, Ruby, Savannah, Signy, Silvia, Solvår, Sylvia | Abbas, Abdul, Adem, Ahmet, Ammar, Ansgar, Are, Arvid, Bogdan, Brynjar, Christer, Dani, Denis, Evald, Fred, Haris, Hassan, Hauk, Hubert, Hussain, Idar, Ingmar, Jamal, Jaran, Jarl, Kenan, Mahad, Mattias, Mehdi, Morgan, Niclas, Nikola, Oddvar, Olivier, Ove, Ravn, Roald, Rolf, Rune, Sean, Sigvald, Stanislaw, Steinar, Svein, Søren, Tønnes, Viggo, Wojciech, Yasin, Yosef, Youssef |
Finally, here’s a link to Norway’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: Navn – Statistics Norway, Sjekk listen over de mest populære navnene i 2022 – Statistics Norway, Uvanlige navn – før og nå – Statistics Norway, Births – Statistics Norway, Regions of Norway – Wikipedia, Counties of Norway – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Nordic Names
Image: Adapted from Flag of Norway (public domain)
Map: Nye fylker by Furfur (public domain)
