Comments on: AARO & EEVA: THE VOWEL-RICH NAMES OF FINLAND

By: Boston Girl

Boston Girl — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:04:27 +0000

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I also had a Swedish pen pal named Anneli. The usual Swedish version seems to be Annelie (and I had another Swedish pen pal with that name, for that matter).

Just about guaranteed, if you give your baby a Finnish name, he/she will be unique in his/her future classes!

By: Boston Girl

Boston Girl — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:01:30 +0000

I just found this blog and my interest perked right up (I love Scandinavian/Nordic names). For almost 27 years I’ve had a wonderful pen pal there named Jaana.

In some of my writing I also created a Finnish family with the names Teppo (I think this is the equivalent of Stephen), Mielikki (which my friend Jaana remarked once is nowadays most often given to cows!), Kerttu (=Gertrude), Ilta, Antti (=Andrew), the above-mentioned Niilo (=Neil/Neal) and Liisa.

I’ve been so influenced by some Scandinavian pronunciations that every time I see the name Eva, I ALWAYS pronounce it “Eh-va” in my mind. Now it sounds funny to me when pronounced “Ee-va”!

By: Eva

Eva — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:57:24 +0000

These are interesting lists! thanks for sharing! I was suprised Eeva was pronounced EH-vuh, rather than EEE-vuh. My name is Eva, pronounced EEE-vuh. And everyone calls me EH-vuh. It’s so annoying. It would be quite ironic if my name was Eeva, and everyone called me EEE-vuh instead of EH-vuh.

haha

By: linda

linda — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:41:47 +0000

Thanks, Michele. Maybe it’s not surprising that ‘pain girl’ didn’t survive.

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:20:57 +0000

Hongatar means something to the effect of ‘maiden of the oak tree’ and Kiputyttö is something like ‘maiden of pain,’ literally ‘pain girl.’ I think they are mythological figures rather than old-fashioned names, which a google search seems to confirm!

By: linda

linda — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:10:35 +0000

I found those two names in a usually reliable reference book, but perhaps these are old names not used in contemporary times?

By: ilmarinen

ilmarinen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:18:45 +0000

Oh, and Kiputytto and Hongatar aren’t names, or at least not here in Finland!

By: ilmarinen

ilmarinen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:14:57 +0000

Anneli is pronounced Ahn-ne-ly. Finnish words/names always have the emphasis on the first syllable, and double letters are always pronounced (like in Italian and Japanese). I think it’s really cute!

By: Paige

Paige — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:00:29 +0000

I like Eeva, Kiira, Liisi for girls and Aaro, Jaako, and Niilo for boys.

Also, feel free to check out http://paigespage.wordpress.com/

By: Anya

Anya — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:12:48 +0000

Very interesting post! My maternal grandmother came to the U.S. from Finland as a little girl. My parents gave me a Finnish name to honor that — Anya. It should be spelled Anja, but they decided that was a little too much for an American kid to deal with. Even with the spelling Anya, I constantly correct people on pronunciation (though I still love my name!)