According to Statistics Greenland, the most popular baby names in the country in 2018 were Inuk & Norsaq (boy names) and Ivaana & Malu (girl names).
The year before, in 2017, the top baby names were Inuk and Pipaluk.
Greenland doesn’t release top-10 lists every year, but does occasionally put out a name report. The most recent, published in mid-2011, includes top-10 lists for five recent decades…
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1960s
| Girl Names (1961-1970) | Boy Names (1961-1970) |
| 1. Ane 2. Marie 3. Karen 4. Sofie 5. Johanne 6. Kristine 7. Margrethe 8. Dorthe 9. Else 10. Anna |
1. Hans 2. Jens 3. Karl 4. Lars 5. Peter 6. Niels 7. Ole 8. Kristian 9. Jørgen 10. Johan |
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1970s
| Girl Names (1971-1980) | Boy Names (1971-1980) |
| 1. Ane 2. Karen 3. Marie 4. Dorthe 5. Johanne 6. Mette 7. Naja* 8. Susanne 9. Anna 10. Sofie |
1. Hans 2. Karl 3. Jens 4. Peter 5. Lars 6. Niels 7. Thomas 8. Jakob 9. Martin 10. Knud |
*Naja means “younger sister (of a male)” in Greenlandic.
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1980s
| Girl Names (1981-1990) | Boy Names (1981-1990) |
| 1. Ane 2. Johanne 3. Marie 4. Karen 5. Paninnguaq* 6. Sofie 7. Louise 8. Anna 9. Nivi* 10. Naja |
1. Hans 2. Karl 3. Jens 4. Malik* 5. Peter 6. Lars 7. Kristian 8. Ole 9. Thomas 10. Niels |
*Paninnguaq means “little daughter,” Nivi means “girl, maiden,” and Malik means “wave.”
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1990s
| Girl Names (1991-2000) | Boy Names (1991-2000) |
| 1. Paninnguaq 2. Ane 3. Nivi 4. Naja 5. Ivalu* 6. Pipaluk* 7. Sofie 8. Sara 9. Marie 10. Camilla |
1. Malik 2. Hans 3. Karl 4. Jens 5. Peter 6. Kristian 7. Lars 8. Aputsiaq* 9. Inunnguaq* 10. Nuka* |
*Ivalu means “sinew,” Pipaluk means “little possession,” Aputsiaq means “snow flake,” Inunnguaq means “little person/human being,” and Nuka means “younger brother (of a male).”
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 2000s (first decade)
| Girl Names (2001-2010) | Boy Names (2001-2010) |
| 1. Ivaana* 2. Pipaluk 3. Nivi 4. Paninnguaq 5. Ivalu 6. Naasunnguaq* 7. Julie 8. Ane 9. Isabella 10. Kimmernaq* |
1. Malik 2. Aputsiaq 3. Minik* 4. Hans 5. Inunnguaq 6. Kristian 7. Nuka 8. Salik* 9. Peter 10. Inuk* and Ivik* (tied) |
*Ivaana means “brood egg,” Naasunnguaq means “little flower,” Kimmernaq means “lingonberry,” minik is a glue-like whale oil that is used as a sealing for skin boats, Salik means “the cleanser,” Inuk means “human being” — Inunnguaq from the ’90s list is a diminutive form of Inuk — and Ivik means “(blade of) grass.”
The recent rise of Salik can be traced back to the 1980s:
In the beginning of the ’80s the artist Keld Hansen published a series of children’s books about a boy named Salik, who lived in Greenland in the 1600s. In that same period, Peter Berliner, a psychologist, did a series of radio programs where the main character was named Salik. Statistics Greenland depicted a rise in the number of boys names immediately after that.
The 2011 report includes many other Greenlandic names as well, but I’ll put those into a separate post a few days from now. Until then, which of all the above names do you like best?
P.S. Almost forgot to define Malu and Norsaq from the first sentence! Malu is a short form of Marie-Louise, and a norsaq is a harpoon-throwing stick.
Sources: Statistics Greenland, Greenland in Figures 2018 (PDF), Greenland in Figures 2019 (PDF), Names in Greenland as of 1 July 2011 (PDF), Nordic Names, Search Names – Oqaasileriffik
