Popular baby names in Norway, 2021

Flag of Norway
Flag of Norway

According to Statistics Norway, the most popular baby names in the country last year were Nora and Noah — both of which happen to be quite similar to the name of the country itself (Norge, pronounced nor-geh).

Here are Norway’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Nora/Norah, 409 baby girls
  2. Emma, 369
  3. Sofie/Sophie, 327
  4. Olivia, 311
  5. Ella, 302
  6. Sofia/Sophia, 295
  7. Maja/Maia/Maya, 282
  8. Leah/Lea, 279
  9. Frida, 276
  10. Ingrid, 273

Boy Names

  1. Noah/Noa, 402 baby boys
  2. Oskar/Oscar, 370
  3. Oliver, 367
  4. Lucas/Lukas, 364
  5. Isak/Isac/Isaac, 361
  6. Aksel/Axel, 346 (3-way tie)
  7. Emil, 346 (3-way tie)
  8. Filip/Philip/Fillip/Phillip, 346 (3-way tie)
  9. Jakob/Jacob, 325
  10. William, 313

In the girls’ top 10, Frida replaced Emilie.

In the boys’ top 10, Isak and Aksel replaced Liam and Henrik.

Names that saw notable increases in usage include…

  • Girl names: Ada (9th), Alma (12th), Iben (19th), Ellie (32nd), Hedvig (38th), Mie (42nd), Mille (46th), Hermine (48th), Klara, and Noelle
  • Boy names: Oskar (2nd), Isak (5th), Aksel (6th), Ludvig (19th), Gustav (25th), Falk, Harald, Joel, and Luca

In the capital city, Oslo, the top names last year were Sofia and Oskar.

And the year before, in 2020, the top names in Norway were Nora and Jakob.

Sources: Navn – Statistics Norway, Dette var de mest populære navnene i 2021 – Statistics Norway

Image: Adapted from Flag of Norway (public domain)

4 thoughts on “Popular baby names in Norway, 2021

  1. I love Falk! Falcon in Norwegian (a new character name now lol)
    I’m wondering if so many non typical Norwegian names are from people moving there over the decades, social media giving people more choices on a variety of popular names, or both/neither. I just peaked at how the names have changed over the decades back to 1945. More and more less typical Norwegian names moved up the charts starting around 1970 for girls and 1975 for boys. Thomas was the one name that moved up fast and is spelled different (Tomas but that’s more Danish). Jan was one of the most popular names for a very long time. Jahn being another spelling.
    I’m feeling like some kind of idk, purist with names. Like Iceland, they don’t have outside names!
    “Established in 1991, the Committee remains sole steward of the official list of names suitable for Icelandic babies. At the end of 2012, this list reportedly contained 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names. And while the list grows every year (parents are allowed to propose new names for a small application fee), the Committee is very particular about which names are suitable for integration into Icelandic culture. Any new submissions are judged on three main criteria: The name must contain only letters in the Icelandic alphabet, must be adaptable to Icelandic grammar rules, and must not cause the child any future embarrassment.”
    As well, most all Norwegians I know have double first names and no middle name. Like Kjell Magne, Brit Linda, Geir Fridjolf, Pal Ole, Inger Marie, Marit Stine. Do they only show the very first names on these lists?
    How are the times changing names? In the US how have the names changed with adding in distinctly “foreign” names. I mean, America is a melting pot so any name can be “American” …Ok, Utah has some really really very unique names LOLOL Nobody can names their kids as weird (spelling included) as Mormons! It’s almost an oddity to name your kid something ‘normal’ like Mark, David, or Steve. Give those names to a Mormon mother and she’ll Mormonize them for you LOL
    I have covid mush brain so my usual babbling just went way off the rails LOL Thanks for your patience!

  2. Oh I hope you feel better soon. :)

    I agree — it would be surprising to meet a modern kid named something like Mark or David or Steven.

    That’s a good question about Norwegians with dual first names! I’ve never seen dual-names on the popularity charts for Norway, but if you search Norway’s name site for a specific name, you’ll see specifics like:

    • 34202 men have Ole as part of their first name
    • 5309 men have Ole as their only first name
    • 5783 women have Brit as part of their first name
    • 2571 women have Brit as their only first name
    • 37623 men have Per as part of their first name
    • 7063 men have Per as their only first name
    • 30530 women have Inger as part of their first name
    • 6486 women have Inger as their only first name

    These results suggest that many (most?) people do indeed have more than one first name.

    Names that are currently trendy, though, seem to be used by themselves a lot:

    • 5356 men have Oskar as part of their first name
    • 4091 men have Oskar as their only first name
    • 4205 women have Olivia as part of their first name
    • 3222 women have Olivia as their only first name
    • 12326 men have Emil as part of their first name
    • 9137 men have Emil as their only first name
    • 4096 women have Sofia as part of their first name
    • 2934 women have Sofia as their only first name

    So I wonder if dual first names are being given less often than they used to be.

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