By Linda Rosenkrantz

I was recently reading an article about Noomi Rapace, the Swedish actress who starred in the original version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, then went on to play the lead in Prometheus, with a full slate of other English language leading roles on her upcoming agenda (as Amy Winehouse? Maria Callas?). And of course, being one of the berries-in-chief, I was naturally drawn to her name, the charming Swedish version of Naomi.

Which naturally led me to search for other wonderful Swedish names that are either underused or completely unheard of in this country. Here is a long list of some of the best; I’ve indicated those that are in Sweden’s Top 100—where Alice and Lucas reign in top place—and those that have made it onto the US Top 1000. Also note that some of these names are found in other Scandinavian countries as well.

GIRLS

Agna/Agnetha

Alva #18 in Sweden—used in the US through the1950s

Annalina

Annika—#644 in the US

Asta

Astrid—#776 in the US

Barbro

Ebba #9

Elsa #4 in Sweden —#622 in the US (thanks to Frozen)

Gala

Greta—#632 in the US

Idony

Ingrid —#871 in the US

Juni #38 in Sweden

Linnea #22 in Sweden

Lovisa #40 in Sweden

Mai

Maja #3 in Sweden

Marika

Marja

Meja #49 in Sweden

Noomi

Nova #31 in Sweden–#136 in the US

Novilie

Quenby/Quinby

Saga #11 in Sweden

Sanna

Sibylla (si-BEE-la)

Signy/Signe #24 in Sweden

Silja (SIL-ya)

Sunniva (soo-NEE-va)

Svea (SVAY-a)

Thora

Tilda

Tova

Tuva

Vara

Vendela

Viveka

BOYS

Albin #38 in Sweden

Anders—#818 in the US

Arne

Axel #15 in Sweden–#116 in the US

Bjorn

Bo—#595 in the US

Edzard

Ivar (EE-var)

Gunnar #398 in the US

Ivar

Jens

Klemens (CLAY-mens)

Lars

Leif —#969 in the US

Magnus —#796 in the US

Milian

Mio

Nels

Nils #16 in Sweden

Odin —#383 in the US

Ola

Soren—#568 in the US

Stellan

Stian (stee-an)

Stig

Sven

Tait

Tor

Ulf

Vidar #46 in Sweden

Viggo #36 in Sweden