Last year, the island nation of Iceland welcomed over 4,200 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Emilía and Birnir.
Below are Iceland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2023. (Please note that I created these two gendered sets of rankings from the single non-gendered set of rankings that Iceland released.)
Girl names
- Emilía, 23 baby girls
- Sara, 22
- Aþena, 21 (3-way tie)
- Embla, 21 (3-way tie)
- Sóley, 21 (3-way tie)
- Emma, 20
- Katla, 19
- Eva, 18 (4-way tie)
- Lilja, 18 (4-way tie)
- Una, 18 (4-way tie)
- Viktoría, 18 (4-way tie)
- Anna, 16 (3-way tie)
- Bríet, 16 (3-way tie)
- Hekla, 16 (3-way tie) – inspired by Hekla, the name of one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes.
- Matthildur, 15 (tie)
- Salka, 15 (tie)
- Birta, 14 (3-way tie)
- Hafdís, 14 (3-way tie)
- Katrín, 14 (3-way tie)
- Andrea, 13 (3-way tie)
- Freyja, 13 (3-way tie)
- Natalía, 13 (3-way tie)
- Íris, 12 (4-way tie)
- Iðunn, 12 (4-way tie)
- Kristín, 12 (4-way tie)
- Móeiður, 12 (4-way tie)
- Ástrós, 11 (5-way tie)
- Fanney, 11 (5-way tie) – modern coinage created from elements meaning “snowdrift” and “island.”
- Hrafntinna, 11 (5-way tie)
- Saga, 11 (5-way tie)
- Ylfa, 11 (5-way tie)
- Elín, 10 (5-way tie)
- Heiðdís, 10 (5-way tie)
- Hildur, 10 (5-way tie)
- Júlía, 10 (5-way tie)
- Laufey, 10 (5-way tie)
- Amelía, 9 (12-way tie)
- Aría, 9 (12-way tie)
- Dagbjört, 9 (12-way tie)
- Glódís, 9 (12-way tie) – modern coinage created from elements meaning “to shine” and “goddess.”
- Helena, 9 (12-way tie)
- Ísabella, 9 (12-way tie)
- Karítas, 9 (12-way tie)
- Klara, 9 (12-way tie)
- Máney, 9 (12-way tie)
- María, 9 (12-way tie)
- Sigrún, 9 (12-way tie)
- Sóldís, 9 (12-way tie)
- Alexandra, 8 (9-way tie)
- Edda, 8 (9-way tie)
- Eldey, 8 (9-way tie)
- Harpa, 8 (9-way tie)
- Írena, 8 (9-way tie)
- Margrét, 8 (9-way tie)
- Rakel, 8 (9-way tie)
- Ronja, 8 (9-way tie)
- Þórdís, 8 (9-way tie)
Boy names
- Birnir, 30 baby boys
- Emil, 28
- Elmar, 25 (tie)
- Jón, 25 (tie)
- Óliver 24
- Aron, 23
- Viktor, 22
- Jökull, 21
- Alexander, 20
- Atlas, 19
- Gunnar, 18
- Baldur, 17 (tie)
- Mikael, 17 (tie)
- Breki, 16 (3-way tie) – derived from an Old Norse word meaning “breaker.”
- Styrmir, 16 (3-way tie)
- Theodór, 16 (3-way tie)
- Arnar, 15 (3-way tie)
- Kári, 15 (3-way tie)
- Óðinn, 15 (3-way tie)
- Baltasar, 14 (3-way tie)
- Elías, 14 (3-way tie)
- Huginn, 14 (3-way tie)
- Daníel, 13 (4-way tie)
- Hilmir, 13 (4-way tie)
- Ísak, 13 (4-way tie)
- Úlfur, 13 (4-way tie)
- Gabríel, 12 (4-way tie)
- Guðmundur, 12 (4-way tie)
- Ólafur, 12 (4-way tie)
- Tómas, 12 (4-way tie)
- Ari, 11 (11-way tie)
- Benedikt, 11 (11-way tie)
- Benjamín, 11 (11-way tie)
- Björn, 11 (11-way tie)
- Brynjar, 11 (11-way tie)
- Dagur, 11 (11-way tie)
- Erik, 11 (11-way tie)
- Kristján, 11 (11-way tie)
- Kristófer, 11 (11-way tie)
- Matthías, 11 (11-way tie)
- Sigurður, 11 (11-way tie)
- Anton, 10 (7-way tie)
- Atli, 10 (7-way tie)
- Ágúst, 10 (7-way tie)
- Hinrik, 10 (7-way tie)
- Jóhann, 10 (7-way tie)
- Magnús, 10 (7-way tie)
- Stefán, 10 (7-way tie)
- Adam, 9 (8-way tie)
- Bergur, 9 (8-way tie)
- Birkir, 9 (8-way tie)
- Leó, 9 (8-way tie)
- Máni, 9 (8-way tie)
- Óskar, 9 (8-way tie)
- Stormur, 9 (8-way tie)
- Tristan, 9 (8-way tie)
Interesting names from outside the top 50 include…
- Rökkvi (masculine name, given to 8 babies), which may mean “twilight.”
- Kolbrá (fem., 5 babies), a modern coinage created from elements meaning “black, dark” and “eyelash.”
- Hrafnkatla (fem., 3 babies), the feminine form of Hrafnkell, which is made up of elements meaning “raven” and “cauldron.”
- Tindur (masc., 3 babies), derived from an Old Norse word meaning “spike,” “tooth,” “mountain peak.”
- Þráinn (masc., 3 babies), based on an Old Norse word meaning “obstinacy.”
- Krummi (masc., 2 babies), which could mean either “bent, crooked” or “raven.”
And what about the single-use names?
Over 980 names were bestowed just once in Iceland last year. Here’s a sampling of Iceland’s unique baby names of 2023:
Apolonia, Broteva, Dofri, Esjar, Friðþjófur, Gígja, Gíslason, Hlín, Indriði, Jóvin, Kjalar, Myrkár, Náttey, Ösp, Possible, Röskva, Spói, Torfi, Undína, Völundur, Yndís, Zebbý
Here are simplified definitions for a few of the above…
- Friðþjófur (masc.), made up of elements meaning “peace” and “thief”
- A name that means “peace thief” seems very appropriate for a newborn baby. :)
- Gígja (fem.), meaning “fiddle.”
- Ösp (fem.), meaning “aspen tree.”
- Röskva (fem.), meaning “vigorous,” “brave.”
- Spói (masc.), from the Icelandic word spói, which refers to the whimbrel (a type of bird).
Gíslason — a surname that was likely used as a masculine forename (given that -son ending) — may have been inspired by Icelandic soccer player Rúrik Gíslason.
I didn’t post about Iceland’s top baby names of 2022, but here are Iceland’s 2021 rankings.
Sources: Vinsælustu nöfnin 2023 – Þjóðskrá, Births – Statistics Iceland, Nordic Names, Wiktionary
Image: Adapted from Flag of Iceland (public domain)
