So, after two tie breakers in the quick poll thread ([name_f]Meri[/name_f] vs [name_f]Elvi[/name_f] and [name_f]Ilona[/name_f] vs [name_f]Senja[/name_f]) my top ten Finnish names as picked by NB are:
- Loviisa
- Juuli
- Elvi
- Meri
- Ilona
- Senja
- Saana
- Helmi
- Senni
- Hilja
and…
- Otso
- Nikolas
- Eljas
- Anton
- Runo
- Eemil
- Petja
- Aleksanteri
- Iivo
- Reko
I guessed that the more international boy names would make it ([name_m]Nikolas[/name_m], Eemil, [name_m]Anton[/name_m]), and Eljas is probably appealing to people who like [name_u]Elias[/name_u] or other [name_f]El[/name_f]- boy names. With Aleksanteri I was 50/50 on whether or not it would make it to the top 10 - [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] is a well loved classic but my guess was that this variation wouldn’t be everyone’s favourite. (It is very, very Finnish and possibly a bit awkward in many other languages.)
I am so happy that [name_m]Otso[/name_m] got the number one spot! 
(Some people might have seen me talk about how much I love it, so I don’t know if that influenced any votes but gosh it’s so nice seeing it do so well. 
The meaning might have something to do with it too, I think - it’s a pretty cool nature name. 
)
I’m happy to see [name_m]Runo[/name_m] in the top 10 too - it’s a more out there choice by Finnish standards but I love the literary/mythological connections. ([name_m]Runo[/name_m] means poem and shares its roots with [name_u]Rune[/name_u]).
Overall, [name_m]Otso[/name_m], [name_m]Runo[/name_m], Iivo, and [name_m]Reko[/name_m] fit in the [name_m]Hugo[/name_m]/Otto/Leo crowd so I think that O-ending contributed to their popularly here. (That’s also probably why Aatto faired better than [name_m]Aatos[/name_m]).
The bottom of the boy’s list (Vertti, Sampsa, Kuisma) doesn’t really surprise me - they don’t really share sounds with names that are more popular right now and in general are on the stranger side outside of their native land. I wonder if the A and I endings also sound more feminine to some people?
My only prediction for the girl list was that [name_f]Elvi[/name_f] would do well, and it came in 3rd. I’m so pleasantly surprised by Loviisa coming in first! I love it but somehow assumed the double i might put people off? (I have a double i in both my first and middle name and they cause me grief constantly after moving aboard, so maybe that has primed me to expect a negative reaction to it. 
)
Juuli and [name_f]Ilona[/name_f] are both quite versatile and travel well from one language to another I think (Finnish got them from Russian and Hungarian respectively) so in retrospect their popularity isn’t a huge surprise. With the rest of the top 10 I can’t quite guess why say, Saana made it but [name_f]Vilja[/name_f] didn’t.
I’m not surprised to see Valpuri, Vanamo, and [name_f]Sanelma[/name_f] at the bottom - I imagine all might cause some confusion over pronunciation & might not sound very name-like to a non-Finnish speaker. (Although I love that all of them still got some votes. The NB community is so wonderfully open minded that someone is bound to love your weirder names too. )
It’s cool to see names ending in -ja (pronounced ya) doing well across both lists - [name_f]Senja[/name_f], Hilja, Eljas, and Petja. Are -ya names gonna be the next big trend, maybe? 
Thanks everyone - this was really interesting! (And it was fun to see what all of you picked - it kind of went with what my perceptions of your styles are. 
)
[name_f]My[/name_f] top 10
Girls:
- Helmi
- Elvi
- Ruusu
- Tuomi
- Loviisa
- Sanelma
- Meri
- Talvikki
- Vanamo
- Valpuri
Boys:
- Otso
- Aatos
- Runo
- Armas
- Iivo
- Touko
- Sampsa
- Viljo
- Nikolas
- Kuisma
