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Gender: Female Pronunciation: SOON-ee-va Meaning of Sunniva: "sun gift" Origin of Sunniva: Scandinavian

Sunniva Origin and Meaning

The name Sunniva is a girl's name of Norwegian origin meaning "sun gift".

Sunniva was an Irish-born saint who fled to Norway, where she hid in an island cave with her followers and eventually died. After miracles were reported on the island, the cave was excavated and Sunniva's intact body was found. Sunniva is the patron saint of Western Norway. Her name would make a fascinating and unusual choice for a modern baby girl, and if her story is a bit grim, you can take refuge in the upbeat nickname Sunny or Sunni.

16 names similar to Sunniva

These 16 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Sunniva. If you didn't find an alternative name that you like better than Sunniva, try our name generator. It allows you to go beyond the similarities of a name, which can provide a lot of inspiration!

Find other names based on Sunniva using our baby name generator.

Lists containing Sunniva

Sunniva in Blog Posts

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Famous People Named Sunniva

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Sunniva Næs Andersen, Norwegian handballer
Sunniva Ørstavik, Norwegian sociologist and public servant
Sunniva Hakestad Møller, Norwegian politician

Pop Culture References for the name Sunniva

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Sunniva, character in the novel "The Dark Light" by Mette Newth

Comments

FractalShadow Says:

2018-08-10T16:55:56

A fantastic way to get to the cute nickname Sunny or Sunshine.

vintageisfave Says:

2018-05-28T20:55:12

Since Sunniva isn’t pronounced like Sunny, I would use nn Suvie! Or just Su if you’re more classically inclined :)

danirose01 Says:

2017-03-03T04:16:53

Sunniva Gunn!

EW314 Says:

2016-01-28T16:57:59

I normally love Scandinavian names but I'm not so hot on this one for some reason. It's lacking the cleanness and succinctness of my favourites, such as Astrid, Inger, Liv, Freyja, Tove, Birgit, Elska and Svea. I think Sunny is a bit of a silly nickname, especially for a girl (sounds exactly like Sonny).

headintheclouds Says:

2015-06-26T15:35:25

Sunniva is lovely! It sounds lively and cheery, yet also calm, elegant and serene at the same time. It reminds me of Zoe in that sense, especially with both their meanings tied to "life" in some way. The meaning and history behind it is such a bonus too. Also lots of appealing nicknames, from Sunni/Sunny to Niva/Eva, etc.

Sessan Says:

2015-04-28T23:27:10

I like my name (Sunniva)

faithnamer Says:

2014-03-16T15:29:14

I didn't know how to pronounce this for the longest time, so it sounded like "son of a" in my mind.. I didn't get the appeal, but now that I know how to pronounce it, it is a pretty name!

rabia_chrisden Says:

2014-02-15T17:41:07

Saint names are cool. This one is no different. I love how pretty it sounds. The nickname Sunni (or maybe Eve- meaning 'life') brighten the story behind this name up.

Sorceress Says:

2014-02-13T15:38:12

It's such a pretty name.