How popular is the baby name Elsa in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Elsa.

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Popularity of the baby name Elsa


Posts that mention the name Elsa

Popular baby names in Sweden, 2021

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

The Nordic country of Sweden is located in Northern Europe and shares land borders with Norway and Finland.

Last year, Sweden welcomed over 114,200 babies — nearly 55,800 girls and close to 58,500 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Alice and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl names

  1. Alice, 706 baby girls
  2. Maja, 681
  3. Vera, 674
  4. Alma, 667
  5. Selma, 660
  6. Elsa, 652
  7. Lilly, 625
  8. Ella, 606
  9. Astrid, 596
  10. Wilma, 586
  11. Ellie, 584
  12. Olivia, 555
  13. Freja, 551
  14. Leah, 547
  15. Ines, 539
  16. Signe, 534
  17. Stella, 511
  18. Ebba, 509
  19. Clara, 492
  20. Saga, 481
  21. Alva, 479
  22. Agnes, 473
  23. Ester, 441
  24. Hedda, 423
  25. Alicia, 398 (tie)
  26. Mila, 398 (tie)
  27. Julia, 388
  28. Iris, 372
  29. Molly, 370
  30. Luna, 362
  31. Juni, 355
  32. Sigrid, 353
  33. Ellen, 346
  34. Leia, 334
  35. Nova, 306
  36. Livia, 303
  37. Lova, 298
  38. Celine, 294
  39. Meja, 289
  40. Emilia, 286
  41. Elvira, 279
  42. Elise, 275 (tie)
  43. Nora, 275 (tie)
  44. Linnea, 273
  45. Liv, 271
  46. Edith, 265 (tie)
  47. Lo, 265 (tie)
  48. Sofia, 262
  49. Sara, 259
  50. Tyra, 256

Boy names

  1. Noah, 745 baby boys
  2. William, 726
  3. Liam, 683
  4. Hugo, 679
  5. Lucas, 668
  6. Adam, 643
  7. Oliver, 635
  8. Matteo, 632
  9. Frans, 581
  10. Elias, 577
  11. Walter, 576
  12. Leo, 562
  13. Leon, 550
  14. Oscar, 547
  15. Alfred, 540
  16. August, 531
  17. Nils, 521
  18. Harry, 509
  19. Theo, 505
  20. Sam, 498
  21. Otto, 481
  22. Ludvig, 476
  23. Arvid, 468
  24. Elliot, 456
  25. Charlie, 442
  26. Malte, 439
  27. Isak, 438
  28. Alexander, 429
  29. Louie, 425
  30. Theodor, 420
  31. Ebbe, 406
  32. Adrian, 403
  33. Olle, 398 (tie)
  34. Vincent, 398 (tie)
  35. Benjamin, 394
  36. Filip, 389
  37. Melvin, 377
  38. Love, 375
  39. Axel, 368
  40. Gabriel, 366
  41. Henry, 343
  42. Mohammed, 337
  43. Jack, 329
  44. Elton, 327
  45. Colin, 325
  46. Josef, 322
  47. Aron, 319
  48. Viggo, 309
  49. Edvin, 305
  50. Albin, 304

(Each of these names represents the most common spelling of that name, but “the numbers include all alternative spellings,” according to Statistics Sweden.)

In the girls’ top 10, Vera and Lilly replaced Olivia and Freja.

In the boys’ top 10, Frans — which jumped to 9th place from 27th the year before — replaced Oscar.

The names in Sweden’s top 100 that rose the fastest from 2020 to 2021 were Alba and Ted. (The previous fastest-rising male name, Björn, was second-fastest this time around.) The names that saw the steepest drops in usage were Ronja and Vincent.

In 2020, the top two names were also Alice and Noah.

Source: Name Statistics – Statistics Sweden

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)

Popular baby names in Sweden, 2020

Flag of Sweden
Flag of Sweden

According to Statistics Sweden, the most popular baby names in the country last year were Alice and Noah.

Here are Sweden’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Alice, 794 baby girls
  2. Maja, 670
  3. Elsa, 643
  4. Astrid, 607 (tie)
  5. Wilma, 607 (tie)
  6. Freja, 596
  7. Olivia, 587
  8. Selma, 578
  9. Alma, 577
  10. Ella, 575

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 758 baby boys
  2. William, 742
  3. Hugo, 712
  4. Lucas, 709
  5. Liam, 698
  6. Oscar, 671
  7. Oliver, 649
  8. Matteo, 646
  9. Elias, 642
  10. Adam, 602

In the girls’ top 10, Elsa, Freja and Selma replaced Lilly, Vera and Ebba.

The boys’ top 10 includes the same 10 names, but in a different order.

The names in Sweden’s top 100 that rose the fastest from 2019 to 2020 were Bonnie and Björn. The names that fell the fastest were Bianca and Wilmer.

In 2019, the top names were Alice and Lucas.

Source: Name Statistics – SCB

Image: Adapted from Flag of Sweden (public domain)

Where did the baby name Viveca come from in 1948?

Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors (1920-1995)
Viveca Lindfors

The name Viveca may bring to mind American actress Vivica Fox, but she wasn’t the woman who put this name it on the map way back in in 1948:

  • 1950: 15 baby girls named Viveca
  • 1949: 13 baby girls named Viveca
  • 1948: 7 baby girls named Viveca [debut]
  • 1947: unlisted
  • 1946: unlisted

The influence here was Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors — born Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors in Uppsala in 1920.

She’d been a film star in Europe since the early ’40s, but didn’t start appearing in movies in the U.S. until 1948.

One of her earliest movies for American audiences was Adventures of Don Juan (1948), in which she played Queen Margaret, the married love interest of Don Juan (played by Errol Flynn).

Viveca (and her name) were featured on the front cover of Life magazine in February of 1949. The blurb describing the cover began:

Viveca (pronounced Viv’eca) Lindfors is 28 years old, has brown hair and blue eyes, loves snow and hates hats, and has a very independent personality.

Her name can be traced back to the German name Wiebke (pronounced VEEB-kuh), the feminine form of Wiebe [VEE-buh]. They’re ultimately based upon the Germanic element wig, meaning “war.”

The spelling Vivica emerged in the data a few years later, and (as you’d expect) saw a big jump in usage in the ’90s, thanks to Vivica Fox.

What are your thoughts on the name Viveca? Which spelling do you prefer?

Sources:

Popular baby names in the Faroe Islands, 2019

Flag of the Faroe Islands
Flag of the Faroe Islands

According to Statistics Faroe Islands, the most popular baby names last year in the Faroe Islands — the North Atlantic archipelago that belongs to Denmark — were Anna and Jónas.

Here are the Faroe Islands’ top 10+ girl names and top 10+ boy names of 2019:

Girl names

  1. Anna, 9 baby girls
  2. Eva, 7 (two-way tie)
  3. Lea, 7 (two-way tie)
  4. Maria, 6 (three-way tie)
  5. Mia, 6 (three-way tie)
  6. Vón, 6 (three-way tie)
    • Based on an Old Norse word meaning “hope.”
  7. Alda, 5 (three-way tie)
  8. Elsa, 5 (three-way tie)
  9. Olivia, 5 (three-way tie)
  10. Emma, 4 (three-way tie)
  11. Liva, 4 (three-way tie)
  12. Rósa, 4 (three-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Jónas, 9 baby boys
  2. Óðin, 8
  3. Benjamin, 6 (three-way tie)
  4. Magnus, 6 (three-way tie)
  5. Rókur, 6 (three-way tie)
    • Based on an Old Norse name meaning “crow, rook.”
  6. Adrian, 5 (four-way tie)
  7. Baldur, 5 (four-way tie)
  8. Boas, 5 (four-way tie)
  9. Jósef, 5 (four-way tie)
  10. Ari, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  11. Bragi, 4 (eleven-way tie)
    • Based on an Old Norse word meaning “the best, foremost” or “poetry.” Also the Norse god of poetry.
  12. Dávid, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  13. Hugin, 4 (eleven-way tie)
    • Based on an Old Norse word meaning “mind, spirit, thought.”
  14. Jákup, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  15. Jóhan, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  16. Jón, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  17. Markus, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  18. Milan, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  19. Nóa, 4 (eleven-way tie)
  20. Villiam, 4 (eleven-way tie)

Some of the other baby names bestowed in the Faroe Islands in 2019 include…

  • Brima (f) “surf, surge” in Old Norse
  • Døgg (f) “dew”
  • Glóa (f) “to glow, to shine, to glitter”
  • Gylta (f) “young sow”
  • Gylvi (m) “roaring sea, heavy sea”
  • Hjalti (m) “man from Hjaltland“
  • Tjálvi (m) “one who encompasses, keeps together”
  • Treysti (m) “trusty”
  • Ýr (f) “yew tree, bow”

P.S. Denmark has a total of two overseas territories: the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Sources: Statistics Faroe Islands (via Reddit), Faroe Islands – Wikipedia, Nordic Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Faroe Islands (public domain)