Aaro & Eeva: The Vowel-Rich Names of Finland

How would you pronounce Anneli? It has a certain fresh appeal but I’m uncertain as to where to place the syllabic emphasis.

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!)

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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”!

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!

nameberry.com, how do you do it?

Finnish names are so beautiful. I also created a family full of Finnish names. They are Astrid (this isn’t Finnish, but Astrid was supposed to be American), Henrikki (the Finnish form of Henry), Tapio (No idea what it means, but it’s from the Kalevala), and Tuuli (wind).

A mystery story I did in eighth grade had Aamu (morning), Ilta (evening, she and Aamu were twins), Suometar (Finland-something), Talvikki (winter), Tapio (again), Eerikki (Finnish form of Erik), Mikko (Michael), and Ainua (a form of Aino/a that I made up). I got mad at my teacher whenever he mispronounced them I also love the names Meri, Aika, and Aalto.

We have a family friend, originally from Finland who’s name is Sirpa. I have always thought it was such a beautiful name. My Grandmother came to Canada from Finland so I have always kept this name in the back of my mind as a potential baby name for my child one day.

[...] we drove to the Finnish Embassy, not to ask them why their names have so many vowels, but to peruse the art gallery and gift shop within. Then, we went back to Malandela’s, or more [...]