I’m not pregnant or trying to be at the moment, just thinking about the future.
Any opinions on these names, bad/good? I only want 2 kids, so barring surprises or difficulties, we will have one of each or two of the same. So first name is for potential first-born and second for potential second-born. Last name will be a patronymic beginning with G, 2 initial syllables plus ‘son’ for boys and ‘dóttir’ for girls.
Rósa Maren (Rósa is familiar and I think sounds good in both languages, also a nod to my mother’s mn Rosalie, Maren is not particularly Icelandic, more Scandinavian, but I think it fits really well)
Elva Sólveig (Elva is a lot more unusual than Rosa but still somewhat known in the UK I think, I love it because of the river/elf meaning, Sólveig is a solidly Nordic name dating back to the sagas, original meaning likely hall-strength but now essentially sun-strength. Together it makes me think of a river in the sunshine).
Matthías Karl (Matthías is very popular in Iceland (21 in 2012, still only 18 babies though) and likely to remain so I think, but it’s still quite a steady popularity rather than a spike, familiar but unusual in the UK. Karl is a non-negotiable family name, also an old name used in Iceland since the saga-age)
Leó Ingimar (Leó is a very non-traditional Icelandic name, although familiar and quite popular now as a mn, very familiar and easy in the UK. I think Ingimar balances out the Latin vibe, even though it was only used in Iceland from the 19th century it is still very Nordic and Ingi- names have always been used here)
Or the ‘more Icelandic f’ alternatives:
Svala ”sabel (Svala is the word for swallow, one of my favourite British summer birds, ”sabel is the Icelandic spelling of my mother’s name, pronounced EE-sah-bel. I’m not too sure about the vowel ending and vowel beginning but I don’t like too many names that start with a consonant and don’t end with a so it’s tricky)
Ylfa Sólveig (Ylfa means she-wolf, which I love)
Gylfi Karl (Gylfi has been one of my favourites for a really long time, and a G name means the initials and mn would be the same as father and grandfather. I think that’s kind of cool, but of course not necessary to keep that pattern)
Orri Felix (Orri is the word for black grouse, I love it because I think it’s cute and I would guess really easy to say/spell whilst being totally Icelandic. Felix is a very uncommon name in Iceland, but there are a few famous Felix’s so it’s known. They say FELL-ix though rather than FEEL-ix, such a difference that I would only use as mn)
Of course Murphy’s Law says that when it comes to it, bf won’t like any of them, but I can daydream