We’re currently living in Finland and I’d like to maybe give our next baby a Finnish name to honour this big move. My DD has one and I love it.
So names I’m looking at
girls’ names
Lumi - snow
Ilta - evening
Satu - fable or fairy tale
[name]Suvi[/name] - summer
[name]Meri[/name] - sea
[name]Marja[/name] - berry (pn mar-yah)
[name]Katri[/name] - form of [name]Katherine[/name]
Aune - form of [name]Agnes[/name] (prn ow-ne)
boys’ names
[name]Valo[/name] -light
[name]Jari[/name] - shortened form of Jarlmari meaning helmeted warrior (prn yar-ee)
Santeri - form of [name]Alexander[/name]
[name]Ari[/name] - eagle
Otso - spirit bear
[name]Eero[/name] - form of [name]Eric[/name] (e-ro)
Any you like? They’d probably be a middle name, with maybe the exception of Lumi and [name]Valo[/name] which I love and would consider as a first. What would be your reaction to these names?
I wouldn’t have a negative reaction, some of them are pretty neat. I do like them as mn. [name]Ari[/name] I have heard used on girls too. Lumi and Otso stand out the most to me.
Lumi – I love this one, but see it as a little cutesy. I do know a Romanian girl named Luminista nn Lumi though And I just saw one of my facebook friends has a friend named Luminita. That would be lovely.
Ilta – very pretty, but I don’t like the sound a lot
Satu – Again, I don’t like the sound, but the meaning it lovely!
[name]Suvi[/name] - Very pretty! I really like this
[name]Meri[/name] - OH [name]LOVE[/name]
[name]Marja[/name] - very usable and pretty
[name]Katri[/name] - I like this ok
Aune - i don’t like this, sorry
boys’ names
[name]Valo[/name] -This is interesting but seems too short
[name]Jari[/name] - I like this, but it also seems incomplete
Santeri - I really like this one!
[name]Ari[/name] - I really love it, but I’ve only known girls with it here in [name]America[/name]
Otso - reminds me of [name]Otto[/name] and I actually like it
[name]Eero[/name] - This is my favorite!
I really like them all (Finnish heritage), but [name]Meri[/name] and Otso are my favorites! I also think Sinikka, Saija, and Aila are really beautiful for girls, and also really like [name]Toivo[/name] for boys. All best!
Agree that [name]Ari[/name] is maybe a bit too feminine for a boy, always imagined it as a nickname for [name]Ariadne[/name], but I do love it.
Dantea - I agree about Lumi, the -ee ending feels nicknamey to me. There is Lumen and Lumia, but all of them don’t feel right.
there is Jarlmari or Hjarlmar for [name]Jari[/name], but they are harder to say, I think.
I also like Sini/Sinikka which means blue for a girl, but like Sini as a nickname for [name]Tamsin[/name], another name we’re considering.
[name]Matti[/name] is too common and we have a [name]Matthew[/name] in the family.
[name]Love[/name] Santeri, but my DS’s middle name is [name]Alexander[/name], so don’t know if I’d use it.
I think that Lumi is so sweet! Otherwise, my favourite Finnish girl names are Vilja (grain), Hilja (silence) or Helmi (pearl). From you boys list I like [name]Valo[/name]. I also like Väinö (maybe not so practical though!), Aimo, & [name]Viljo[/name]. Good luck!
I think the fun of middle names is you can put something different and fun there. I think all of them would work for middle names. The ones I like best are below.
girls’ names
Lumi - snow : I like this as a first name too.
Ilta - evening
[name]Suvi[/name] - summer
[name]Katri[/name] - form of [name]Katherine[/name] : I like this as a first name too.
boys’ names
[name]Valo[/name] -light : I like this as a first name too.
[name]Jari[/name] - shortened form of Jarlmari meaning helmeted warrior (prn yar-ee)
[name]Ari[/name] - eagle
[name]Eero[/name] - form of [name]Eric[/name] (e-ro) : I like this as a first name too.
I like these…my boyfriends last name is nevalainen…so I was also trying to find finnish names that I liked…I like [name]Katri[/name] and [name]Suvi[/name] I also like [name]Aili[/name]…but I don’t like the spelling because it looks incomplete…Ero is nice and [name]Ari[/name]…good luck
This is a little old but just wanted to chime in on names for other people looking as well. [name]Just[/name] got done reading a best-seller “A [name]Discovery[/name] of Witches” by [name]Deborah[/name] Harkness & a character is Satu - a finnish witch-- who is very mean! Also, the Bachelorette features [name]Ari[/name] - so this may be a more “normal” name now. My family is Finnish & I have a few Katris ([name]Katherine[/name]), [name]Vaino[/name] also, and many many more… funny thing is we named our son [name]Abraham[/name] & I found out later that my great great grampa’s name was [name]Abraham[/name] or [name]Abram[/name] but he also went by ‘Arpo’ He immigrated to the US from Finland.
Lumi - beautiful. [name]Love[/name]!
Ilta - don’t like
Satu - sorry, would be a great name for a pet but I don’t like it for a person
[name]Suvi[/name] - meh, not wild either way
[name]Meri[/name] - beautiful! [name]Meribel[/name] is one of my all time favorites! and [name]Meri[/name] is one of the reasons!
[name]Marja[/name] - I know someone with this name, I’ve always thought it was lovely
[name]Katri[/name] - I like it as a nickname but not on it’s own
Aune - not fond
[name]Valo[/name] - I love the name [name]Valen[/name] and this reminds me of it. [name]Valor[/name] might also be an option with [name]Valo[/name] as a nn
[name]Jari[/name] - okay
Santeri - this reminds me of Santorini the Greek island, I’m not really fond of it.
[name]Ari[/name] - doesn’t really give a Finnish feel but it’s okay
Otso - this is an interesting one, I think it would make a great mn
[name]Eero[/name] - I like this one a lot as well
Pilvi - g cloud
Tuuli - g wind
Esteri - g form of [name]Esther[/name]
Helmi - g pearl
Runo - b poem
Myrsky - b storm prn mur-sku, not sure I’d use by I love the Ys prn as Us in Finnish and it’s almost as good as kysymys the Finnish word for question
Järvi - b lake
Onni - b wish or desire