How usable are these Nordic choices?

General Name Discussion
1

I need some help determining how well some of my Nordic favourites might fare internationally.

Could you tell me your reactions/thoughts regarding these names? Are they pronouncable? [name_f]Do[/name_f] they actually sound nice? If you were super-liberal with your own name choices, would you consider any of these? [name_f]Do[/name_f] any of them sound like something else? (I’m usually sort of oblivious to that…)

Girls:
[name_f]Liva[/name_f] / prn. [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-vah
[name_f]Mari[/name_f] / MAH-ree
Alvilde / al-VILL-duh, VILL like in villa.
Duva / DOO-vah
[name_f]Edda[/name_f] / like [name_m]Eddie[/name_m] only with an -a
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] / AY-rah, like in [name_f]Isla[/name_f]?
Eydis / AY-diss
Ellisiv / [name_f]EL[/name_f]-ee-seev, Old Norse form of [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Lova[/name_f] / LAU-vah, same sound as [name_f]Laura[/name_f]
Annvor / AHNN-vor, [name_f]Ann[/name_f]- a lot like -un-
Olava / o-LAH-vah
Soleia / so-[name_m]LAY[/name_m]-uh, buttercup in Norwegian
Symra / SYM-rah
Svava / SVA-vah
[name_u]Tora[/name_u] / [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-uh
Vivendel / VEE-ven-dell, honeysuckle in Norwegian
Vorin / VOR-in, the VOR has the same -au- sound as [name_f]Lova[/name_f].

Boys:
Amund / [name_m]AH[/name_m]-munn, final -d is silent, initial A pronounced more like in almond than [name_m]Amon[/name_m].
[name_m]Alvar[/name_m] / AHL-var, again with the A sound.
Alvarin / AHL-va-rinn
[name_m]Audun[/name_m] / I’m not sure you even have the sound in English, I certainly not sure how to write it. You can listen here. I gues pronouncing it like [name_u]Auden[/name_u] would be acceptable for travel :slight_smile:
[name_u]Bo[/name_u] / like a mixture of boo and beau? Listen here, the Danish pronunciation is identical to the Norwegian.
Ellef / [name_f]ELL[/name_f]-ef
Eivind / AY-vin, final -d is silent again. A lot like [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] with the English pronunciation.
Elling / [name_f]ELL[/name_f]-ing
Frimann / almost exactly like [name_m]Freeman[/name_m], I’m not sure the difference is even worth mentioning
Gard / GARD, like guard only more blunt, sharp -d sound at the end.
Havtor / HAV-tor, HAV- more like in halves than have.
[name_m]Ingmar[/name_m] / ING-mar
[name_m]Iver[/name_m] / EEV-er, this is both a variant of [name_m]Ivar[/name_m] and the Norwegian word for ‘eagerness’.
Jarand / YAR-ahn, J’s are very different in Norwegian, think [name_m]York[/name_m]. Silent -d :slight_smile:
Lyder / [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-der, or close enough. The y sound is a little hard to translate.
Olai / o-LYE, same -o- sound as in [name_u]Bo[/name_u] earlier.
Syver / SEE-ver, same issue as Lyder though.
Torarin / [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-ahr-in, I’m aware this is a sort of tongue twister. Is it more troublesome than [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] though?
Vinjar / [name_m]VIN[/name_m]-yar

Thanks in advance, I know this is a sort of narrow request… Any and all opinions welcome!

And I’m sure forvo.com has more pronunciations if you’re interested, I only put up links to the ones I found really hard to explain. If you want to hear a name pronounced but can’t find it online, I can add it to forvo myself, just ask!

2

Girls:

[name_f]Mari[/name_f] and Symra are the best here

Boys:

[name_f]My[/name_f] favorites are olai and syver ”

3

Well I can tell you that hear in [name_u]America[/name_u] they would most likely be mispronounced so if that matters to you, I would go with one of the easier ones. I vote for [name_f]Liva[/name_f] or [name_u]Tora[/name_u] for the girls name and Olai or Gard. Good luck!

4

@kaylanaab26 - Thank you! I’m surprised you like Symra, that acually makes me smile ^^

@cengel73 - I know all too well how mispronounced they might be, which is why your thoughts are so helpful! [name_m]Just[/name_m] determining which ones are the easy ones is super-hard for me :stuck_out_tongue: A little mispronunciation I can live with, it’s the complete butchery I want to avoid. XD I’m glad you like Olai, I was a little uneasy about that one!

5

They would all work in [name_m]German[/name_m] even though some girls names, like Vorin, might not be recognized as being a girls name.

[name_f]Liva[/name_f] - easy, the pronunciation is intuitive
[name_f]Mari[/name_f] - might be confused with [name_f]Marie[/name_f] but just from seeing it, I would pronounce [name_f]Mari[/name_f] with the emphasis on the first syllable
Alvilde - would get your preffred pr. in [name_m]German[/name_m], might be harder to get in English or [name_m]French[/name_m]
Duva - easy, reminds me of [name_u]Dove[/name_u]
[name_f]Edda[/name_f] - very intuitive pronunciation
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] - I’m not sure how this would work in English since apparently sometimes the “ei” gets turned into an “ee” sound (eg. [name_f]Freida[/name_f] has the same pronunciation as [name_f]Frieda[/name_f] in English), in [name_m]German[/name_m] [name_f]Eira[/name_f] would be EYE-ra
Eydis - this might/will be turned into Ay-diss insetad of EYE-diss
Ellisiv - would end up [name_f]Ellie[/name_f]-siv (siv rhymes with O[name_f]Liv[/name_f]ia)
[name_f]Lova[/name_f] - LOH-va is how Germans would pronounce this
Annvor - Annvor’s pronunciation would be [name_f]ANN[/name_f]-for (with a non-english A), it would be seen as very different
Olava - I’m a sucker for O-names and this one is beautiful + you’d definitely get your preffered pr. here
Soleia - might be turned into So-LEYE-a
Symra - easy
Svava - easy
[name_u]Tora[/name_u] - the ephasis would be on TO-ra so not exactly the same, but [name_u]Tora[/name_u] is used here
Vivendel - easy but different, reminds me of Lavendel ([name_m]German[/name_m] word for [name_f]Lavender[/name_f])
Vorin - would most likely be FO-ra and might not be recognized as a girls name

Boys:
Amund - would turn into A-mund
[name_m]Alvar[/name_m] - easy
Alvarin - might be [name_u]Alva[/name_u]-reen
[name_m]Audun[/name_m] - Ou -dun is the pr. you’d get here (Ou like in Ouch)
[name_u]Bo[/name_u] - You’d get BOH here (OH as in l[name_u]OVa[/name_u])
Ellef - would be very different but the pr. is easy
Eivind - the d wouldn’t be silent here
Elling - easy
Frimann - easy but would be seen as a last name in Germany
Gard - same as Frimann
Havtor - would turn into HAF-tor
[name_m]Ingmar[/name_m] - easy
[name_m]Iver[/name_m] - easy
Jarand - easy but -d wouldn’t be silent
Lyder - For me the y would be a mix of “i” (ee) and “ü” but it’s hard to describe
Olai - would be O-lye
Syver - same as Lyder
Torarin - might be TO-ra-rin here
Vinjar - easy and reminds me of Vineyard

I’m not sure if you only meant for English people to reply but well, that is how Germans would view/pronounce these names :slight_smile:

6

[name_f]My[/name_f] favourites from the girl list are [name_f]Eira[/name_f] (I have this on my list, love the meaning!) and Soleia (love this!). [name_f]Mari[/name_f] and Alvilde could work quite easily.
I’m not so keen on the boys, but I’m very picky with boys names in general. I think Alvarin and [name_m]Alvar[/name_m] are quite nice, and quite easy to pronounce.

I can’t listen to the forvo pronunciations on my iPad, but I think I got most of the girls names right (hours of staring at names has paid off!), but the silent ‘d’ could be a bit tricky with the boys, and in general they seem a bit more difficult.

7

@OpheliaFlora - Thank you so much! I actually took 6 years of [name_m]German[/name_m] in school, but I was never interested enough to feel like I learned something. The sounds are actually really similar in the two languages, the ee/ü mixture you’re talking about is probably exactly the way we pronounce Y in Norway. ^^ I assumed I would get replies from English speakers only, this was a really nice surprise! I sometimes forget that I’m not the only ‘foreigner’ on nameberry, which is sort of embarrassing… Ou for the Au-sound is an excellent way to describe it! Thank you for mentioning that! The [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-uh / TO-rah thing is tricky, I’m not sure [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-uh is really right, might be more correct with [name_m]TOr[/name_m]-uh or something. I’m finding it sort of hard to write the names the way I say them because I don’t have control over how people will read it. I’m not sure the AY-sound for [name_f]Eira[/name_f] and Eivind is the best way to describe it for example.
Thanks again! (I must add that [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] is one of my favourites as well! And it works in Norway, hooray!)

@myosotis - The boys are trickier, I agree! It’s also harder to find nice sounding Nordic boys names that don’t sound dated. Most of them have been used up or are currently really trendy ([name_m]Odin[/name_m], Balder and [name_m]Loke[/name_m] for example, and they’re typical dog names for some reason). I agree that [name_m]Alvar[/name_m] and Alvarin seem to be the easiest. If I yield to the standard English pronunciations as well, [name_u]Bo[/name_u] is quite wearable I think. :slight_smile:
[name_f]Mari[/name_f] benefits from being so simple and Alvilde is quite similar to familiar [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] so I see why those would do well!
I’m crushing pretty hard on Soleia myself ^^

8

I think since most of us “foreigners” have a very English signature, it’s easy to forget that not everybody is English.
I’m always on the hunt for names that work internationally since I would love to travel/live in different places in the future (especially in Europe) and not have a kid’s name end up being something like “Made-leen-e” instead of [name_f]Madeline[/name_f] (which sadly doesn’t work in [name_m]German[/name_m]), so I’m always extra exited when people that aren’t English reply. It adds diversity.

I thought it was interesting what you’ve written earlier (different thread), how you would most likely end up using Norwegian names since names from other cultures don’t have a good “reputation”/would be weird.
It’s a bit less “strict” in Germany but I’d feel weird raising a little [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] here as the pronunciation would not be [name_m]German[/name_m] and every other person would ask if I’m [name_m]French[/name_m] or English.
Does [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] work as [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] or would you have to change the spelling to [name_f]Ofelia[/name_f] (what sound does the “ph” make?).
It’s a gorgeous name, isn’t it? I’ve loved it for a long time now and am glad that it’s a rare name that works wonderfully in [name_m]German[/name_m].

Would [name_f]Eira[/name_f] and Eivind begin with an EYE or Ay sound?

9

[name_f]Madeline[/name_f] would be ma-de-[name_u]LEE[/name_u]-nuh in Norway :stuck_out_tongue:
I does feel a little weird to be using unusual/international names. The name [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] is pronouncable in Norwegian, and it’s actually pretty, but it just feels weird to use it in a sea of [name_f]Amalie[/name_f], [name_f]Sofie[/name_f], [name_f]Linnea[/name_f], [name_f]Sara[/name_f], [name_f]Maja[/name_f], [name_f]Thea[/name_f] and the clunkier Nordic names like [name_f]Ingeborg[/name_f] and [name_f]Oda[/name_f].

[name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] would be spelled [name_f]Ofelia[/name_f] for now, I’ll see how it goes with [name_f]Sophie[/name_f]/[name_f]Sofie[/name_f]. It’s not the F that changes, but the E after. [name_f]FE[/name_f] like in fennel rather than [name_u]FEE[/name_u] like in finish. And O’s are a little different, more like it is in [name_m]German[/name_m] ^^

The problem with [name_f]Eira[/name_f] and Eivind is that when I write EY(E) it sounds like what I’m trying to say, but it doesn’t to a native English speaker. When I write AY it sounds completely wrong to me, and I’m not convinced it’s right in English either. It’s sort of like the -ai- bit of fail I think. I just don’t know how to write it to get the correct pronunciation… I found Eivind on forvo.com though –> here
^^

10

In that case it seems like your ‘ei’ is like the sound made by our capital A, which I’d write as ‘AY’.

I have a friend [name_f]Laila[/name_f] who is half (you’ll have to forgive me here as I can’t remember which country exactly!) Scandinavian and her name is pronounced ‘LIE-la’ accordingly, as it seems that ‘ai’ is the combo that makes the ‘EYE’ sound in her mums language like [name_f]Aira[/name_f] in my signature.

I’ve viewed them as:

[name_f]Aira[/name_f], [name_f]Laila[/name_f]: ‘EYE-ra’ ‘LIE-la’.

[name_f]Eira[/name_f]: ‘AY-ra’.

11

Eivind has two pronunciations on forvo. The Norwegian one is closer to how I would pronounce it even though there seems to be a soft j/y sound between the Ei- and the -vin sound.
The Swedish one is closer to how I’d have pronounced it by reading you description. More like Ay-vind (AY rhymes with lay).
In [name_m]German[/name_m] the -ei- is usually “EYE” (as the word and rhyming with lie).

That’s quite interesting since the pronunciation of [name_f]Laila[/name_f]/[name_f]Leila[/name_f]/[name_f]Layla[/name_f]/[name_f]Leyla[/name_f] isn’t clear in [name_m]German[/name_m].
It would have to be Lye-la for [name_f]Laila[/name_f] and [name_f]Leila[/name_f] (ei and ai would both make the EYE sound) however some people do pronounce it [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-la.
It’s the exact opposite for [name_f]Layla[/name_f]/[name_f]Leyla[/name_f].
I think in English all of these would be interchangeable.

12

[name_m]Just[/name_m] wanted to say I love [name_f]Liva[/name_f], Vivendel, Olava and [name_f]Edda[/name_f]. I don’t know how well they’d go over in the states but I know [name_f]Mari[/name_f] would do well. For boys, [name_u]Bo[/name_u] and Elling would probably be good picks here, easy to pronounce.

13

I would consider all of them usable internationally because I have an Irish name that nobody here pronounces correctly but it doesn’t bother me so I believe that international names should be used if people want to honour their heritage without worrying about pronunciation issues. But, I think I am alone in this view on here, most people seem to think that names with pronunciation issues should be avoided. I might only avoid ones if they sound a lot like something negative in another language. However, I will comment on how easily I think they would be for an English speaker to pronounce.

Liva / prn. LEE-vah - pronunciation and spelling are very obvious. I think it’s sweet.
Mari / MAH-ree - very pretty, same as Liva
Alvilde / al-VILL-duh, VILL like in villa. - In English people might initially pronounce it wrong (Al-vild probably) but I don’t think it would be hard for people to get after being told
Duva / DOO-vah - pronunciation fairly obvious but I do not find the sound that attractive
Edda / like Eddie only with an -a - this ones really sweet
Eira / AY-rah, like in Isla? - pronunciation difficulties likely but, like I said, I personally don’t see this as an issue. It’s a beautiful name
Eydis / AY-diss - I’m not really a fan
Ellisiv / EL-ee-seev, Old Norse form of Elizabeth - much more exciting than Elizabeth! I really like this one
Lova / LAU-vah, same sound as Laura - it would probably initially be pronounced LOH-va or LUV-a in English speaking countries but I think it sounds lovely pronounced LAU-vah
Annvor / AHNN-vor, Ann- a lot like -un- - you would probably get ANN-vuh here. I find this one a bit strange sounding for my English ears!
Olava / o-LAH-vah - close to Olivia so that might get confusing. I think it’s quite pretty.
Soleia / so-LAY-uh, buttercup in Norwegian - this one is really cute. I think this would be fairly easy to pronounce.
Symra / SYM-rah - I think the pronunciation is pretty obvious and it would work here
Svava / SVA-vah - I find this one physically difficult to say (the Sva sound)
Tora / TOR-uh - very usable here, this is a nice name
Vivendel / VEE-ven-dell, honeysuckle in Norwegian - it doesn’t sound as attractive as you would expect for such a pretty flower but I don’t think the pronunciation is too difficult
Vorin / VOR-in, the VOR has the same -au- sound as Lova. - simple but has quite a masculine sound which could lead to some confusion here

Amund / AH-munn, final -d is silent, initial A pronounced more like in almond than Amon. - the closeness to almond (the d would get pronounced here) may cause confusion and teasing here. I like it when pronounced correctly
Alvar / AHL-var, again with the A sound. - this one is very handsome and pronunciation is fairly intuitive
Alvarin / AHL-va-rinn - I really like this one too
Audun / I’m not sure you even have the sound in English, I certainly not sure how to write it. You can listen here. I gues pronouncing it like Auden would be acceptable for travel - it’s similarity to Auden makes it seem a bit trendy, unfortunately, so it’s history and real heritage may be lost here
Bo / like a mixture of boo and beau? Listen here, the Danish pronunciation is identical to the Norwegian. - would be Boh here. very short and insubstantial to me
Ellef / ELL-ef - elf jokes very likely but it has a nice sound
Eivind / AY-vin, final -d is silent again. A lot like Ivan with the English pronunciation. - nice name. Without knowing, I would pronounce this AY-vind (Ay like the letter a) so I guess that’s quite close to the correct one
Elling / ELL-ing - sounds a bit weird in English. Very easy to pronounce though
Frimann / almost exactly like Freeman, I’m not sure the difference is even worth mentioning - very easy
Gard / GARD, like guard only more blunt, sharp -d sound at the end. - again, very easy but, in English, it seems like a weird word name because of the word guard
Havtor / HAV-tor, HAV- more like in halves than have. - quite easy
Ingmar / ING-mar - easy and I really like this
Iver / EEV-er, this is both a variant of Ivar and the Norwegian word for ‘eagerness’. - I would say EEV-er but I think a lot would pronounce it like Ivor (EYE-vuh)
Jarand / YAR-ahn, J’s are very different in Norwegian, think York. Silent -d - again, the d would be pronounced. I think lots of people would recognise it as ‘foreign’ and pronounce the j as a y. I like this one as well
Lyder / LEE-der, or close enough. The y sound is a little hard to translate. - you would get LIE-duh here
Olai / o-LYE, same -o- sound as in Bo earlier. - I actually really like this one and I think oh-LYE would be the most likely pronunciation here which is pretty close
Syver / SEE-ver, same issue as Lyder though. - yeah, it would be said SIGH-ver here
Torarin / TOR-ahr-in, I’m aware this is a sort of tongue twister. Is it more troublesome than Aurora though? - it is a bit of a tongue twister but no harder than Aurora. I would have said it correctly apart from I would have put emphasis on the second syllable
Vinjar / VIN-yar - easy, I think

My favourites are Eira, Ellisiv and Lova, Ahlvar, Ingmar and Olai

14

[name_f]Liva[/name_f]- love this super cute,easy to pronounce
[name_f]Mari[/name_f]- this ones pretty well known I think,
Alvilde- I love this but it doesn’t sound right without a strong accent, somewhat easy to pronounce
Duva- same needs the accent,easy to pronounce
[name_f]Edda[/name_f]- this one should be fine , especially next to [name_f]Ada[/name_f] really easy to pronounce
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] - I really love this one easy to pronounce
Eydis - sounds awkward when I say it , but not very hard to pronounce
Ellisiv - super cute somewhat easy to pronounce
[name_f]Lova[/name_f] - grows on you really fast somewhat easy to pronounce
Annvor - needs a accent but I like it easy to pronounce
Olava - sounds a lot like oliver not hard to pronounce
Soleia - super cute easy to pronounce
Symra - I like it but it reminds me of cinema easy to pronounce
Svava - easy to pronounce not sure what I think about it
[name_u]Tora[/name_u]- cute could be a nickname for [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]
Vivendel - I like this one easy to pronounce
Vorin - easy to pronounce , might be confused for a boy though

Amund - easy to pronounce some people might add the d
[name_m]Alvar[/name_m] - easy to pronounce I really like this one
Alvarin - easy to pronounce I like this one
[name_m]Audun[/name_m] - not too hard you’d wind up with a few different pronunciation’s depending on where you are
[name_u]Bo[/name_u] - love this remind’s me of the thief lord [name_u]Bo[/name_u] and [name_m]Prosper[/name_m] easy to pronounce
Ellef - looks how it sounds
Eivind - hard pronunciation
Elling - looks how it sounds someone might miss hear you thinking you said yelling
Frimann- easy
Gard - easy
Havtor - easy
[name_m]Ingmar[/name_m] - easy
[name_m]Iver[/name_m] - easy
Jarand - not to hard over here you’d wind up jar-and [name_m]Jer[/name_m]-and [name_m]Jared[/name_m]
Lyder - easy
Olai - easy reminds me of soap though
Syver - easy
Torarin - little bit of a tongue twister but easy to pronounce
Vinjar - easy
I think most names are international as long as they don’t have a really bad meaning in certain country’s :cool:

15

@Renrose - Thank you for making it a little clearer to me! Considering [name_f]Laila[/name_f], I’m inclined to agree, which means I spelled the pronunciations as close to right as possible in the original post ^^

@OpheliaFlora - I understand about the j/y hint, it’s not important [name_f]IMO[/name_f], I’ve never made note of it myself :slight_smile: Also, the guy speaking has a different dialect than me, so I added my own pronunciation of Eivind –> here
It’s the new play sign in Norway, but it has my name on it as well ^^ Does it sound more like you would pronounce it? [name_m]How[/name_m] would you write it out if you wanted to explain how to say it?
All the [name_f]Laila[/name_f]'s are pronounced the same here, but [name_f]Laila[/name_f] is the most used spelling. It’s kind of awesome that we’re sort of discussing this one letter combination/sound to such an extent! It makes me so happy I use Nameberry!

@ChristinaMarie - Thank you! [name_f]Liva[/name_f] is growing to be my favourite ^^ I really appreciate your input!
[name_f]My[/name_f] dad is [name_m]Olav[/name_m], so Olava is very dear to me as well.

@PotofGold - I’m not terribly concerned about pronunciation issues, but I would like names that travel better than my own, Åshild (can you guess how to pronounce it? ;)). I think most people can get used to pronunciations they’re not familiar with. It’s also a lot easier when you can just speak the name and have them mimic than it is to try and spell it out in writing and hope that you’ve written it right and that others will interpret the sounds the way you intended.
I’m very glad you’re telling me which ones sound strange to you, most of them are the ones I expected would be more troublesome ^^ Annvor and Vorin for example. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you like Vivendel better as a boys name? I’ve considered switching it up, but I’m not sure it would go over well with Vivendel, my potential son with a flower name :stuck_out_tongue:
And I noticed today that [name_m]Iver[/name_m] sounds a lot like [name_f]Eva[/name_f], do you think it would be too close?
Thank you so much, your insight is very helpful!

@DarcyWillow - I’ve read The Thief [name_m]Lord[/name_m]! I really liked it. [name_m]Prosper[/name_m] is also one of my favourites, but I don’t think I could use both names, and [name_m]Prosper[/name_m] would be middle name only (and probably never used unless I marry an Englishman).
Eivind seems to be the most troublesome name on the entire list, I really wouldn’t have guessed it when I wrote it down. In hindsight it seems obvious though. It’s really great that you’ve added things the names sound like (I’m horrible at that!), I’ll have to consider the soap thing for example. Elling/Yelling is unfortunate, but with [name_u]Ellington[/name_u] the surname, I’m not sure it would be a very lasting problem.
[name_f]Lova[/name_f] means ‘promise’, just so you know :slight_smile:
I’m perhaps not conscious enough about name meanings, but to my knowledge none of these have negative associations. You’ve reminded me I need to look meanings up for my ‘narrowing down all lists’ project!
Thanks again!

16

The way you pronounce it is the same way I would, though the -d seems to be silent.
I probably would have described it as EYE-vinn since it has the same beginning as [name_f]Isla[/name_f] which I describe as EYE-la.
Nameberry makes me happy, too as I find it incredibly interesting to discuss how names sound or a viewed in different languages, especially the European ones as it is so fast to travel to another country here.

17

OK, I live in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] so I’m used to english names/words & some french. I took some french in high school and speak the tiniest bit of Dutch. I think most of these are usable - mostly because [name_f]Canada[/name_f] is so multicultural we see EVERYTHING here & you start to learn the different cultural name styles. Anyway, like I said I think most of these are usable, out of the girls list anyway… the boys names are a little more out there.
I hilighted my faves.

Girls:
[name_f]Liva[/name_f] / prn. [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-vah
[name_f]Mari[/name_f] / MAH-ree
Alvilde / al-VILL-duh, VILL like in villa.
Duva / DOO-vah
[name_f]Edda[/name_f] / like [name_m]Eddie[/name_m] only with an -a
[name_f]Eira[/name_f] / AY-rah, like in [name_f]Isla[/name_f]?
Eydis / AY-diss
Ellisiv / [name_f]EL[/name_f]-ee-seev, Old Norse form of [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Lova[/name_f] / LAU-vah, same sound as [name_f]Laura[/name_f]
Annvor / AHNN-vor, [name_f]Ann[/name_f]- a lot like -un-
Olava / o-LAH-vah --------------------------------this like but it may be mistaken for [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] at first glance. I’d pass.
Soleia / so-[name_m]LAY[/name_m]-uh, buttercup in Norwegian
Symra / SYM-rah
Svava / SVA-vah ----------------------------------this is a bit of a tongue twister for us.
[name_u]Tora[/name_u] / [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-uh
Vivendel / VEE-ven-dell, honeysuckle in Norwegian
Vorin / VOR-in, the VOR has the same -au- sound as [name_f]Lova[/name_f].

Boys:
Amund / [name_m]AH[/name_m]-munn, final -d is silent, initial A pronounced more like in almond than [name_m]Amon[/name_m].
[name_m]Alvar[/name_m] / AHL-var, again with the A sound.
Alvarin / AHL-va-rinn
[name_m]Audun[/name_m] / I’m not sure you even have the sound in English, I certainly not sure how to write it. You can listen here. I gues pronouncing it like [name_u]Auden[/name_u] would be acceptable for travel
[name_u]Bo[/name_u] / like a mixture of boo and beau? Listen here, the Danish pronunciation is identical to the Norwegian.
Ellef / [name_f]ELL[/name_f]-ef
Eivind / AY-vin, final -d is silent again. A lot like [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] with the English pronunciation.
Elling / [name_f]ELL[/name_f]-ing
Frimann / almost exactly like [name_m]Freeman[/name_m], I’m not sure the difference is even worth mentioning
Gard / GARD, like guard only more blunt, sharp -d sound at the end.
Havtor / HAV-tor, HAV- more like in halves than have.
[name_m]Ingmar[/name_m] / ING-mar ------------------------------------------------Too much like Angmar, as in The Witch [name_m]King[/name_m] of Angmar in LOTR
[name_m]Iver[/name_m] / EEV-er, this is both a variant of [name_m]Ivar[/name_m] and the Norwegian word for ‘eagerness’.
Jarand / YAR-ahn, J’s are very different in Norwegian, think [name_m]York[/name_m]. Silent -d
Lyder / [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-der, or close enough. The y sound is a little hard to translate.
Olai / o-LYE, same -o- sound as in [name_u]Bo[/name_u] earlier.
Syver / SEE-ver, same issue as Lyder though.
Torarin / [name_m]TOR[/name_m]-ahr-in, I’m aware this is a sort of tongue twister. Is it more troublesome than [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] though?
Vinjar / [name_m]VIN[/name_m]-yar

18

I really like all these names! I think some of them are more usable than others, though.

[name_f]Liva[/name_f]
[name_f]Mari[/name_f]
[name_f]Edda[/name_f]
[name_f]Eira[/name_f]
[name_f]Lova[/name_f]
Soleia
Symra

[name_m]Alvar[/name_m]
Gard
Lyder
Olai
Syver

19

I love Nordic names a lot, especially for boys! Below are my favourites from your list.

Girls:
[name_f]Liva[/name_f], [name_f]Mari[/name_f], [name_f]Edda[/name_f], [name_f]Eira[/name_f], Ellisiv, [name_u]Tora[/name_u] and Vorin.

Boys:
[name_m]Alvar[/name_m], Alvarin, [name_m]Audun[/name_m], Ellef, Havtor, [name_m]Iver[/name_m], Torarin and Vinjar.

20

@OpheliaFlora - I’m beginning to think the Ei- part of Eivind falls somewhere between the AY and the EYE sounds. I think if my son Eivind went to the US I would be more pleased with the AY-vinn than the EYE-vinn pronunciation. Although it’s the kind of thing that’s easier to mimic than to write :slight_smile:
I really appreciate your point of view, thank you so much for being so helpful!

@truenature - I think the world is on its way to being a place where having a ‘foreign’ name isn’t unusual at all… It’s interesting to me that the boys seem more oulandish to you, for me it’s exactly the opposite! The girl names are more rare and unusual, several of the boys names border on ordinary. Sound wise, I totally get your point. The boys names seem to be more clunkily constructed.
I did not consider Angmar/[name_m]Ingmar[/name_m], I’m not sure it troubles me at all ^^ I like LOTR.
Thank you so much!

@SarahMadelyn - Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate it! I’m very happy to see [name_f]Liva[/name_f] getting so much love. She’s my favourite at the moment and I feel a lot better about potentially using her knowing she won’t face too much trouble when travelling. Olai as well since he would be named after my father.

@[name_f]Vicki[/name_f] - I love that you love the boys the most, it’s opposite from all the other replies I’ve gotten :slight_smile:
Thank you so much for your input. This is all so helpful in making me more confident about using Nordic names, and sorting out which ones I should perhaps work best in an intertional setting. It’s wonderful, thank you again!