Iceland is a sparsely populated (and actively volcanic!) island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean, very close to the Arctic Circle.
Last year, Iceland welcomed 4,866 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Embla and Aron.
Here are Iceland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Embla, 31 baby girls
- Emilía, 29 (tie)
- Sara, 29 (tie)
- Sóley, 26 – means “buttercup” in Icelandic.
- Aþena, 25 (tie) – form of Athena.
- Matthildur, 25 (tie) – form of Matilda.
- Katla, 24
- Guðrún, 23
- Eva, 22 (3-way tie)
- Saga, 22 (3-way tie)
- Viktoría, 22 (3-way tie)
- Anna, 21 (4-way tie)
- Bríet, 21 (4-way tie)
- Emma, 21 (4-way tie)
- Hekla, 21 (4-way tie)
- Júlía, 19
- Móeiður, 18
- Aldís, 17 (3-way tie)
- Andrea, 17 (3-way tie)
- Elísabet, 17 (3-way tie)
- Freyja, 16 (tie)
- Kristín, 16 (tie)
- Ísabella, 15 (tie)
- Katrín, 15 (tie)
- Alexandra, 14 (7-way tie)
- Hanna, 14 (7-way tie)
- Klara, 14 (7-way tie)
- Margrét, 14 (7-way tie)
- Rakel, 14 (7-way tie)
- Salka, 14 (7-way tie)
- Una, 14 (7-way tie)
- Hrafnhildur, 13 (3-way tie) – made up of elements meaning “raven” and “battle.”
- Íris, 13 (3-way tie)
- Þórdís, 13 (3-way tie)
- Kolbrún, 12
- Berglind, 11 (7-way tie)
- Birta, 11 (7-way tie)
- Helga, 11 (7-way tie)
- Kamilla, 11 (7-way tie)
- Laufey, 11 (7-way tie)
- María, 11 (7-way tie)
- Sóldís, 11 (7-way tie)
- Amelía, 10 (14-way tie)
- Aría, 10 (14-way tie)
- Áróra, 10 (14-way tie)
- Elín, 10 (14-way tie)
- Hafdís, 10 (14-way tie)
- Heiðdís, 10 (14-way tie)
- Hildur, 10 (14-way tie)
- Hrafntinna, 10 (14-way tie) – based on the Icelandic word hrafntinnu, meaning “obsidian.” (The elements mean “raven” and “flint.”)
- Lena, 10 (14-way tie)
- Lóa, 10 (14-way tie)
- Mía, 10 (14-way tie)
- Natalía, 10 (14-way tie)
- Unnur, 10 (14-way tie)
- Ylfa, 10 (14-way tie)
Boy Names
- Aron, 41 baby boys
- Jökull, 36 – (pronounced yoh-kut, roughly) means “glacier” in Icelandic.
- Alexander, 31
- Kári, 30
- Emil, 28
- Jón, 27
- Óliver, 25
- Matthías, 24 (tie)
- Mikael, 24 (tie)
- Atlas, 23 (tie)
- Elmar, 23 (tie)
- Óðinn, 22
- Birnir, 21 (tie)
- Sigurður, 21 (tie)
- Baldur, 20 (6-way tie)
- Birkir, 20 (6-way tie) – based on the Icelandic word birki, meaning “birch”
- Brynjar, 20 (6-way tie)
- Ísak, 20 (6-way tie)
- Stefán, 20 (6-way tie)
- Tómas, 20 (6-way tie)
- Dagur, 19
- Styrmir, 18
- Úlfur, 18
- Bjartur, 17 (5-way tie)
- Daníel, 17 (5-way tie)
- Fannar, 17 (5-way tie)
- Guðmundur, 17 (5-way tie)
- Róbert, 17 (5-way tie)
- Ari, 16 (6-way tie)
- Jóhann, 16 (6-way tie)
- Kristófer, 16 (6-way tie)
- Óskar, 16 (6-way tie)
- Theodór, 16 (6-way tie)
- Viktor, 16 (6-way tie)
- Baltasar, 15 (3-way tie)
- Bjarki, 15 (3-way tie)
- Ólafur, 15 (3-way tie)
- Benedikt, 14 (9-way tie)
- Benjamín, 14 (9-way tie)
- Einar, 14 (9-way tie)
- Hjörtur, 14 (9-way tie)
- Hrafn, 14 (9-way tie)
- Jakob, 14 (9-way tie)
- Kristján, 14 (9-way tie)
- Magnús, 14 (9-way tie)
- Ýmir, 14 (9-way tie)
- Hinrik, 13 (4-way tie)
- Hlynur, 13 (4-way tie) – means “maple” in Icelandic.
- Máni, 13 (4-way tie) – based on the Old Norse word máni, meaning “moon.”
- Máni was the personification of the moon in Germanic mythology.
- Ragnar, 13 (4-way tie)
Notably, the girl name Saga jumped from 80th place in 2020 to 10th in 2021.
Here are several interesting names from outside the top 50:
| More Girl Names | More Boy names |
| Dagbjört (“day” + “light”), 5 | Frosti (“frost”), 12 |
| Melkorka (a character from a saga), 5 | Nökkvi (“boat, skip”), 9 |
| Kría (“arctic tern”) 4 | Víkingur, 8 |
| Ósk (“wish”), 2 | Snæbjörn (“snow” + “bear”), 5 |
| Ugla (“owl”), 2 | Örlygur (“warrior”), 2 |
And, because Iceland releases all of its baby name data (yay!), we can check out names at the other end of the spectrum.
Over 340 girl names and over 360 boy names were bestowed just once in Iceland last year. Here’s a selection of Iceland’s unique baby names of 2021:
| Unique Girl Names | Unique Boy Names |
| Álfrún, Blíða, Charlotta, Dýrleif, Elínrós, Fanndís, Gígja, Hjaltey, Irmý, Jökla, Kristrún, Lílú, Marlaug, Myrkey, Nanna, Oddný, Pála, Quin, Rökkva, Svanhvít, Þórkatla, Unndís, Viðey, Wilrie, Ylfur, Zoja | Ástmar, Barði, Carlos, Döggvi, Dreki, Ellert, Feykir, Greipur, Himri, Ísarr, Jörfi, Klettur, Kveldúlfur, Loftur, Myrkvi, Númi, Öxar, Pálmi, Röskvi, Skúmur, Sumarliði, Þorfinnur, Vigfús, Xander, Yariel, Zoran |
Some simplified definitions for a few of the above…
- Döggvi, “dew”
- Dreki, “dragon”
- Dýrleif, “deer” + “heir”
- Fanndis, “snowdrift” + “woman”
- Feykir, “fire”
- Gigja, “fiddle”
- Himri, short for himbrimi, “common loon” in Icelandic
- Jökla, feminine version of Jökull, the #2 boy name
- Myrkvi, “darkness (caused by fog or a storm)” or “eclipse“
- Sumarliði, “summer-farer”
- Svanhvit, “swan” + “white”
There was also a single non-binary name, Blær (“light breeze”), registered in Iceland last year.
Interestingly, about a decade ago, a teenager named Blær forced Iceland to legally recognize her name — which, at that time, was considered solely masculine — by taking the government to court. Perhaps that court battle paved the way for Blær to become a dual-gender name in Iceland? Hm…
The last time I posted rankings for Iceland, in 2018, the top two names (Embla and Aron) were the same.
Sources: Vinsælustu nöfnin 2021 | Þjóðskrá, Vinsælustu nöfnin 2021 | Þjóðskrá, Nordic Names
Image: Adapted from Flag of Iceland (public domain)
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