PS [name]Pam[/name] asked if I would like to do a blog about Welsh naming trends and I am a bit self-conscious and unsure about it. If you do one on Norwegian names, I will try and do one on welsh ones!
[name]Ailsa[/name]
I’m glad you liked Norway, Caitalinna ^^ I quite like it here…
I’d be happy to answer your questions! It’s a bit hard to portray the pronunciation right in writing but I’ll try my best… [name]Feel[/name] free to ask again if something is unclear!
Anethe - I’m going to guess this was meant to be [name]Agnethe[/name]? ag-NEH-teh is the best I can say… The first E is not ee, but not a either. This is very important! It’s also the letter that’s said the longest, like the a in [name]Mary[/name]… There are about 1000 people in Norway called [name]Agnethe[/name] or Agnete (500 of each variant) and there have been about 10 new ones born every year the past 10 years ^^
[name]Marin[/name] - There are about 40 girls and 20 boys bearing this name in Norway, so it’s unisex… You would probably encounter two pronunciations - MAH-rin and ma-REEN, but the R’s in Norwegian are much harder than in English, so it’s probably very difficult for you to pronounce it perfectly unless you have a good linguistic instinct… If you know French, Norwegian will have the same R, only shorter… I couldn’t find any specific statistics for [name]Marin[/name], so my guess is that it’s rarely used these days… [name]Marina[/name], which is close has around 15 new girls bearing her name each year though, so I might be wrong… It’s hard to find anything, but if you want me to look more I will ^^
[name]Iselin[/name] - I went to school with an [name]Iselin[/name]! ^^ There are 2380 girls named [name]Iselin/name in Norway, and most of them were born during the last 30 years… There are about 80 new ones born every year the past 10 years… We pronounce it EES-eh-linn, the eh being the same as the eh in [name]Agnethe[/name], but not as long…
[name]Siri[/name] - Is my sister’s name!! I’m always jealous of her it’s so pretty and modern compared to mine… There are 8000 [name]Siri[/name]'s in Norway, and she peaked in the early eighties… She’s been falling tha past 10 years, starting at 115 born in 1999, now at 34 last year… The pronunciation is SEE-ry, like the forst part of Series… The first i is longer then the last, and again you have the R that’s different ^^ [name]Siri[/name] an also be used as one of those prefixes I was talking about before, making Siriann(e/a), Sirild, Sirilinn and such, but I think those combos are the only “accepted” ones, meaning you could make Sirihild legally, but no one in their right mind would think of it…
As for the most popular names, here are some links:
Navnestatistikken - Top 40, girls 2008 (couldn’t find top 100, and I don’t think there is a top 1000…)
Navnestatistikken - Top 40, boys 2008
Navnestatistikken - Top 10 for girls, from 1880 to 2008
Navnestatistikken - Top 10 for boys, from 1880 to 2008
Navnestatistikken - List of the most common girl’s names, and their usage the past 10 years (if you have special names to check)
Navnestatistikken - Same as above, for boys…
If there’s a name you want to know more about, the best page is www.norskenavn.no, but it’s in Norwegian XD I think you’ll easily enough find out how to make a search and you will then get a number of how many Norwegians have that name (bolded) and sometimes a graph…
Nordic Names is a good enough English site, but it’s a bit messier, combining all the statistics for the Nordic countries… ^^
I hope that answered your questions! the most popular names right now are [name]Linnea[/name] and [name]Lucas[/name], which I think says a lot about the current trends in Norway… We’re all over the soft and melodious names, although [name]Kristian[/name] and all his male and female variations will never leave us alone… XD
Goodness, [name]Ailsa[/name], I used so much time on the last post you managed to make two new ones while I was busy, that’s awesome ^^
[name]Astrid[/name] and Oddny fall into the same old style group, yes… They both peaked during the 30’s, but [name]Astrid[/name] was a lot more popular, given to 3,2 % of the girls born then while Oddny was given to 0,25 %… If you use one of the sites I mention in the previous post (all the way at the end) you can see their graphs for yourself ^^
And I’ve been thinking about making a list of the Norwegian names that would be very easily exported but haven’t yet, like Oddny or [name]Taran[/name], I just have to get around to it… ^^
And that’s fantastic that [name]Pam[/name] has asked that of you! I would love to hear more about welsh names, and I think you’d do a wonderful job at opening that world a bit more to all the nameberries ^^
I understand the self-consciousness, I’d have that too!! But think of it this way: At least you don’t have a deadline, you can just tinker away at it when it suits you, make it as good as you can and really take your time to feel satisfied with it, and I’m sure [name]Pam[/name] and [name]Linda[/name] would be happy to get it when you feel it’s done. ^^
Thank you Dearest! I really appreciate it 
and all of your links! I really really love [name]Siri[/name] and [name]Iselin[/name]. So cool and beautiful!
I got Anethe from the [name]Anita[/name] Shreve bestselling book ‘The Weight of Water’ which is about the Smuttynose Island (in the Isles of Shoals off the coast of [name]Rye[/name], New Hampshire) murders of two Norwegian immigrants (Anethe, [name]Karen[/name], and Marren/[name]Marin[/name]- cant remember the spelling) in the 1800s. Its a great book, and a really fascinating true story- but back to the point- that is where I got Anethe. Someone told me it was pronounced [name]Ann[/name]-ett-ah. I’m sure you would know better! thank you again!!
You’re welcome ^^
[name]Anetha[/name] could also be a variation of [name]Anette[/name]/[name]Anetta[/name]… The first is a lot more popular, but they would be pronounced ann-ETT-eh/ann-ETT-ah… There are 5 [name]Anetta[/name]'s, 8500 [name]Anette[/name]'s and 2400 [name]Annette[/name]'s in Norway ^^
[name]Marin[/name] could be [name]Maren[/name], which is a fairly common name in Norway compared to [name]Marin[/name]… 5500 in total. Pronounced MAA-ren, with a very long a…
[name]Iselin[/name] and [name]Siri[/name] are beautiful! I also have a soft spot for [name]Agnes[/name], so I like the [name]Agnethe[/name] variation.
Thanks Dearest, your posts get more and more interesting all the time.
I forgot about a Norwegian gynaecologist friend of mine up the road here - her name is [name]Ingrid[/name], and she has four children (teenagers/early 20s now) the girls are [name]Iselin[/name] and Suneva (Sunever?) which I think [name]Ingrid[/name] told me was the name of a Norse goddess?
Her two boys are [name]Espen[/name] (which I understand can be spelled with a p or a b, I have known both) and [name]Benjamin[/name], but of course she doesn’t pronounce the J like we do - it is more [name]BenYamin[/name]?
I will look up the sites and statistics you mentioned, and start tinkering away. I was thinking about that today in the toyshop when we had two babies in with Welsh names I had not heard on babies before - one was [name]Briallen[/name] which is Welsh for [name]Primrose[/name], but the Welsh “LL” in the middle is really tough for non-Welsh speakers! The other was Celyn - pronounced KELL-inn, which is Welsh for holly.
Keep on posting stuff, you are a natural!
Twinkle, I’m glad you like [name]Iselin[/name] and [name]Siri[/name], they really are something ^^ An [name]Agnethe[/name] is slightly softer than [name]Agnes[/name] in my opinion, so I really like it…
[name]Ailsa[/name], I think Suneva is Sunniva which means “gift from the sun”, and if you look her up on Wikipedia you’ll see she’s a saint connected to Norway, but I couldn’t find any mention of her in norse mythology ^^ [name]Espen[/name]/Esben is the same name, pronounced the same way, and it means “[name]Bear[/name] God” as in a bear that’s also a God… It’s a variation of a prefix/suffix name Asbjoern (As meaning God, [name]Bjorn[/name] meaning [name]Bear[/name])
And all J’s are pronounced like Y’s in Norway, although we have a sllightly different pronunciation for Y’s, so we never mistake one for the other… ^^
And thank you for your kind words ^^ I do my best, and look forward to hearing more about Welsh naming trends some time in the future
Dearest, you have stopped posting and I am missing the chat about Norwegian names! This is the one thing I am sad about on Nameberry, that you have a connection with some people, but whether or not they post or reply, is completely random. Still, that is the nature of the beast, and I must just look out for you on other message boards!
[name]Ailsa[/name]
I’m here, I’m just not very noticeable ^^
I have a hard time being really active here on Nameberry in a way people notice because I still consider myself a novice in the world of baby names… I usually just pay attention to the most recent topics and shoot in where I might have something to say, but I always feel like someone else could say it better than me… Maybe it will come with age ^^
I have started making lists of Norwegian names good for export, though, and I’m finding a lot of cute ones that have died here as well, but could easily be revived elsewhere… And I’m tinkering on a list of old gone-forever names that shouldn’t be… Somewhat like Outhip the Hipsters, only with a plea to pluck up the courage and use the names on it… ^^
Dearest,
[name]How[/name] would you pronounce Flos? Thank you.
[name]Hi[/name] [name]Susan[/name], I don’t know if you’re still interested in that but as a bearer of the name [name]Annika[/name] I’m obviously interested in you getting the name right ;). [name]Even[/name] though there might be slightly varying pronunciations, here are some clips where people say the name:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mODLpYepmj8 (0:56)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jt0KhpBI8 (0:45 and afterwards, just ignore the somewhat silly song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk93Q5C5lhY (0:20)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmHiYHEqqMI&feature=related (1:13)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VWbj26mLuY&feature=related (1:22 if I got that right, I don’t speak swedish)
[name]Hope[/name] that helps.
By the way: I think that entire Norwegian name discussion is really interesting. It’s so bad that describing a sound of a foreign language is so difficult. My cousin’s name (female) is [name]Maren[/name] - I heard that was danish. [name]Do[/name] you know if that’s pronunced like the Norwegian [name]Marin[/name]?
So This one’s back to life! Awesome!!
Flos is not a name in Norway, sorry to say aallison! I’ve never heard of it before. If it’s [name]Flor[/name] you mean, it’s kind of like floor, only the ‘oo’ part is deeper like in Boar and the R is properly pronounced like it is in French… I’m not entirely sure how to explain it to be honest, you have fewer vowels in English than Norwegian, and the ones you have are a lot more similar to one another than they are here… In Norway you would never confuse an I with a Y for example!
[name]Marin[/name] is a Latin name to my knowledge, very rare in Norway actually, and unisex!
[name]Maren[/name] is Danish, but quite popular in Norway! She peaked bigtime in 1880 and had a revival during the 90’s. She’s been falling since then, but she’s considered common! I don’t know more than 2, but there are about 6000 women named [name]Maren[/name] in Norway today and by our standards that’s a common name! XD
Here’s a link to her popularity graph:
Pronunciation is MA-ren, deep MA (a like in ‘arm’), short/light -ren and the R is French again ^^
And I’m really glad you like the whole Norwegian name discussion, I love being able to help like this! I get to be an expert which is much fun! 
This discussion is fascinating to me! Thank you!
I’d love to learn more Norwegian names that aren’t already well known!
(I have a large Norwegian and Swedish heritage and would like to incorporate it into at least one of my children’s names.)
Thanks again!