Greenland welcomes only about 850 babies* per year. Because the number is so low, the country doesn’t bother with baby name rankings — but, recently, it has been publishing the top one or two names per gender in its annual “Greenland in Figures” report.
In 2019, the most popular names in Greenland in were…
- Liam and Inuk for baby boys
- Liam is an Irish short form of William, which comes (via Old French) from a Germanic name comprised of the elements wil, meaning “will, desire,” and helm, meaning “helmet, protection.”
- Inuk is Greenlandic for “human being, man.”
- Naja and Nina for baby girls
- Naja is Greenlandic for “younger sister (of a male).” The “j” makes a y-sound, so you’d pronounce it naya.
- Nina is a short form of names that end in -nina, or -nine.
For the top names of 2018 and 2017 — as well as rankings for the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s — check out the popular baby names in Greenland post from last year.
*Canada’s Nunavut welcomes roughly the same number of babies per year.
Sources:
- Greenland in Figures 2020 (pdf)
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Image: Adapted from Flag of Greenland (public domain)
One thought on “Popular baby names in Greenland, 2019”