The country of Denmark, which is located in northern Europe and shares a border with only Germany, consists of two-thirds of the Jutland peninsula plus an archipelago of hundreds of islands.
Last year, Denmark welcomed 63,473 babies. The most popular names among these babies? Alma and Oscar.
Here are Denmark’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Alma, 482 baby girls
- Ida, 474
- Clara, 437
- Ella, 436
- Olivia, 428
- Freja, 425
- Emma, 420
- Luna, 411
- Agnes, 410
- Nora, 398
- Karla, 393 (tie)
- Sofia, 393 (tie)
- Anna, 387
- Ellie, 370
- Asta, 356 (tie)
- Lily, 356 (tie)
- Alberte, 353
- Frida, 313
- Josefine, 306
- Laura, 299
- Esther, 297
- Ellen, 287
- Astrid, 267
- Isabella, 259
- Saga, 245
- Aya, 242 – Anglicized form of Aija.
- Lærke, 237 – means “lark” in Danish.
- Marie, 223
- Liva, 220
- Hannah, 219
- Mathilde, 214
- Maja, 213 (tie)
- Vilma, 213 (tie)
- Merle, 209
- Victoria, 205
- Mille, 199
- Liv, 190
- Emily, 189
- Sofie, 183
- Leonora, 178 (tie)
- Molly, 178 (tie)
- Lea, 176
- Andrea, 175
- Gry, 172 – (pronounced groo, roughly) means “dawn” in Danish and Norwegian.
- Emilie, 167
- Vera, 161
- Rosa, 156
- Alva, 153
- Elina, 148
- Johanne, 147
Boy Names
- Oscar, 562 baby boys
- Karl, 555
- William, 520
- Oliver, 494
- Alfred, 470
- August, 462
- Valdemar, 458
- Malthe, 452
- Arthur, 451
- Emil, 447
- Lucas, 439
- Aksel, 435
- Noah, 427
- Victor, 395
- Elias, 375
- Theo, 355
- Otto, 340
- Viggo, 319
- Magnus, 306
- Felix, 301
- Elliot, 300
- Nohr, 293 – related to the Germanic word for “north.”
- Liam, 291 (tie)
- Matheo, 291 (tie)
- Anton, 289
- Hugo, 267
- Loui, 264
- Alexander, 254
- Theodor, 249
- Frederik, 248
- Konrad, 244
- Lauge, 243 – based on the Old Norse word félagi, meaning “companion, partner.”
- The Old Norse word félag (“fellowship, partnership”), which referred to a joint financial venture during the Viking Age, gave rise to both the Old Norse word félagi and the modern English word fellow.
- Anker, 241
- Albert, 235
- Johan, 215
- Storm, 209
- About half as many U.S. baby boys (105) were given the English word Storm as a name last year.
- Adam, 199
- Milas, 197
- Erik, 195 (tie)
- Pelle, 195 (tie)
- Vincent, 189
- Villads, 185 – form of Willihad.
- Villum, 183 – form of Vilhelm (William).
- Marius, 182
- Christian, 181
- Holger, 174 – derived from an Old Norse name that was comprised of elements meaning “small island” and “spear.”
- Ebbe, 169
- Walter, 168
- Luca, 167
- Benjamin, 162
In 2020, the top two names were Alma and Alfred.
P.S. The country of Denmark is part of the larger Kingdom of Denmark, which includes the two autonomous countries of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. I’ll post the rankings for both later this week…
Sources: Names of newborn children – Statistics Denmark, Denmark – Wikipedia, Nordic Names, Behind the Name, Félag – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Denmark (public domain)
