Scandinavian Expertise! Nilsine, Nilsa? Name Hunt/Girls (#9) Special Edition!

I’ve been searching high and low for a name related to [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] and I finally turned up Nilsine and Nilsa. I’m really loving these and I need some help to check pronunciation and usage. Nordic Names says that Nilsa is a boy name, so would it be really shocking to use it on a girl? It sounds like a U.S. girl name. Nilsine appears to have a long history of use in Norway (which is a big plus!) but I’m not sure whether that last syllable is supposed to be pronounced as SEENA or SIN-NA or just SEEN. I can’t find these on Forvo so I’m a little stuck.

Thank you for your help!!

The last syllable in Nilsine would be pronounced “seena,” at least I know it would be in Denmark. I assume the same pronunciation rules apply in Norway, though.

Well…personally Nilsa sounds more masculine. I’ve never heard of it, but Behind the Name says that it is the [name_u]Sami[/name_u] form of [name_m]Nils[/name_m]. The [name_u]Sami[/name_u] are a native people of Northern Scandinavia. It might be a little odd. But that depends on where you travel. :slight_smile:

I don’t know about in Norwegian, but as far as I can tell you from my Swedish point of view, Nilsine would be pronounced as nil-SEE-neh, with the “neh” being a sort of mix between an “neh” and a “nah.” I might just be confusing you more, sorry! I’ve never heard this name, either, and if I had no context I would probably assume it was a [name_m]French[/name_m]-ish -ine ending… Still, nil-SEE-nuh is my closest anglicization.

[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps! :wink:

Nilsa isn’t used in Denmark but I presume it’s pronounced NILL-sah. Immediately I would have thought it was a girls name but then again, it’s also the first time I’ve ever seen it so I can’t really speak for the gender usage. Nilsine isn’t used much here anymore and normally, it’s spelled [name_f]Nielsine[/name_f]. In Denmark, we pronounce it NILL-seen-uh.

You probably already know this but I think the most common Scandinavian translation of [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] would be Nikolina/Nikoline. There’s also the beautiful Greenlandic (albeit not Scandinavian – but tries hard Greenland is a part of the Danish realm :D) form Nikkuliinnguaq (the -nnguaq suffix means “little”/“dear”). Speaking of Greenland, [name_f]Nielsine[/name_f] is actually more popular in Greenland than it is in Denmark.

More like NILL-seen-uh/-eh than NILL-seen-ah.

Zuzia [name_f]Autumn[/name_f] Nilsene:). My name is the Norwegian [name_f]Kristine[/name_f], and obviously there it would be said [name_u]Kris[/name_u]-teen-ah, but here everyone just says [name_u]Kris[/name_u]-teen. So I would think Nilsene could follow suit - in the combo above I prefer it pronounced [name_m]Nil[/name_m]-seen, which is quite pretty, I think!

Thanks for the comments thus far. Really helpful! Americans effectively don’t differentiate between uh/eh/ah at the end of a name, at least in my region they don’t. It’s pretty much the same sound and it’s either there or it’s not; i.e. [name_f]Celine[/name_f] or [name_f]Selena[/name_f] sound the same except for the A at the end. Actually, the spelling Nilsine would probably be guessed as nill-SEEN. I think Nordic Names did note that the spelling is [name_f]Nielsine[/name_f] in Denmark.

It sounds like these are pretty obscure variations, even there, so thanks @shvibziks for mentioning Nikolina/Nikoline. Nikolina has been on and off my list but none of the sources I’ve been looking at have mentioned it as being in use in any of the Scandinavian countries, and Nikoline just plain hasn’t been listed.

Nikkuliinnguaq is enough for any American-English-speaker to go running in terror, ha! I’m thinking of using one of these as a middle name, but even I am not brave enough to try that one. :smiley:

Ooh, I like Nilsene! Nilsa to me sounds like a girls name, but of course I know nothing about Scandinavian names. I don’t see why it would matter though, unisex names are becoming a trend. Both are very pretty though!

Have you considered [name_f]Nicolette[/name_f]? I imagine you have, as you are usually very thorough. [name_f]Nika[/name_f] is one that I love, also according to my brief research [name_u]Nikita[/name_u] and Klasina are both variations on [name_f]Nicole[/name_f], which are intriguing to me. And I love [name_f]Annika[/name_f], which might not be a variation on [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] but does have that [name_u]Nick[/name_u] syllable.

YES so good! [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]!!!

@melodicnostalgia - Thank you! Yes, I considered [name_f]Nicolette[/name_f] but in the U.S. there is a product called “Nicorette” to help stop smoking. It was pretty heavily advertised when I was growing up and still gets a good number of ads, but you can see the similarity. [name_u]Nikita[/name_u] has been on and off my list; it gets some pretty mixed reviews as it’s currently a guy name in parts of Europe and then half of the Americans say it’s a “stripper” name or else associate it with the TV show about the woman assassin. [name_f]Nika[/name_f] has been a recent addition to the list and [name_f]Annika[/name_f] has been there for awhile, but Klasina is one I haven’t seen before. It’s maybe a bit to “clicky” sounding to me, if that makes sense, but I appreciate you bringing it up!

@truenature (& @mousehouse) - LOL. You guys! I will get there! I will get there! I gotta finish my homework first! [name_m]Just[/name_m] looking through the comments and noticing that people are spelling Nilsine as Nilsene tells me that people are probably pronouncing it as nil-SEEN, which is what I was expecting for a name “transplant.” Usually the Scandinavians don’t have heart failure over the prn variation (even my own Norwegian grandmother’s name was altered in prn somewhere along the way), BUT I have to finish gathering advice on these before I go back and finish up the combos. :smiley:

[name_f]Kristine[/name_f] is pronounced kris-teen-eh (uh) in Norwegian, not kris-teen-ah which is the phonetic spelling of [name_f]Kristina[/name_f] / [name_f]Christina[/name_f] :slight_smile:

I second everything @shvibziks said, and the Danish pronunciations are identical to the Norwegian ones. I’ve actually never heard Nilsa before --it’s quite intriguing-- but I met a Nilsine once that was 90 years old. It’s quite rare in Norway today (according to statistics, only 27 living people carrying the name), but was more used in the 1800s when -ine endings were quite popular (similar to Iverine, which I think I commented on in one of your previous posts?).

I think Nilsine would make a very sweet and spunky middle name. But please pronounce it the right way, haha.

Gotcha’ :wink: [name_f]Do[/name_f] you know of any other alternate spellings, or would it be terrible to spell it Nilsina, Nilseina, or some such thing? Not saying I [name_m]WILL[/name_m], just trying to discuss & find out the options. E at the end of the name literally does not say “eh” here, it is silent when it’s placed alone on the end of a name so almost everyone will guess that the pronunciation is “nil-SEEN.” The other possibility that people know is the Greek “EE” sound, as in [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] and [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] and [name_f]Daphne[/name_f], but like I say, NO ONE will be able to guess that Nilsine is supposed to be “nil-SEE-neh” I might not worry about it too much since it will be a middle name, but the first name is already confusing so I’d like to at least discuss the options. Nilsa would be more straightforward and might simplify the whole thing.

Thank you for discussion and input! I want to be informed before I consider using a name in the combo!

Any more comments?

Any other input?