Two years ago, the massive but sparsely populated Arctic island of Greenland (which is part of the kingdom of Denmark) welcomed 716 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Aviula and Ivaana for girls, and Marco and Aputsiaq for boys.
Ivaana resembles the Slavic name Ivana, but has a distinct etymology; it’s based on the Greenlandic word ivaaq, meaning “brooded egg” (i.e., an egg that is being kept warm).
Aputsiaq is based on aput, one of the many Greenlandic words for snow. It was popularized by French polar explorer Paul-Émile Victor, whose 1950 children’s book Apoutsiak, le petit flocon de neige was first published in Greenlandic (as Aputsiaq nittaalannguaq) in 1984. The book’s title implies that Aputsiaq means “snowflake,” but a more accurate definition is “snow crystal.”
One year earlier, in 2022, the top names in Greenland were Aviana and Ivalu for girls, and Inuk and Leo for boys.
Sources: Greenland in Figures – Grønlands Statistik (2025 PDF), Births (2023) – Grønlands Statistik, Search Names – Oqaasileriffik
Image: Adapted from Flag of Greenland (public domain)
