Cool Nordic Baby Names

A popular name in Denmark, in this country Bo has some cowboy swagger and a lot of substance in its minimal two letters. In Mandarin Chinese, Bo means "wave".

Artistic associations with the sculptor who invented the mobile make this one of the more creative surname choices.

The Old Norse and modern Norwegian word name Fjord, which refers to a passage in the sea, could work for children of both genders.

Part of a small group of similar names with similar roots — Ivor, Iver, Ivo, Ives — which are all worth looking at. Used throughout Scandinavia, Ivar is currently a Top 100 name in Sweden. In the Willa Cather novel O Pioneers!, there is a character known as —oops —Crazy Ivar.

Sleek modern short form of a classic Scandinavian name.

Juni is the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish form of the month name June. While Juni feels cute and fresh, most Americans would assume it was a nickname or a Joni variation. We prefer Juna or the English June.

Corey was always the most popular form of this Irish name, with Cory (as in New Jersey Senator Booker) in second place and Kory riding caboose. Kory et al were in the first wave of unisex names that began to be used in the late 1960s and 1970s, fading now as fresher names such as Rory or Rowan rise.

Leif is one of the most recognizable Scandinavian names, thanks to Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson, and is still one of the best, with a pleasant aural association with the word leaf.

Name with connotations both mystical and tragic, newly popular in Europe. For English speakers, though, this name might be ruined by its homonym ruin.

A sweet and lively name with two distinct derivations. It can be a short form of Sylvia or a variant spelling of its French form Sylvie, meaning "of the forest". Or, it can be a Norwegian and Swedish variant of Solveig, meaning "sun strength".

Tyr is a very early embodiment of a Norse god, typically thought to guide the law, justice, war and victory.

High profile supermodel/entrepreneur Tyra Banks has put this name in the spotlight, endowing it with her confident, superattractive image.

Ylva may look like it belongs with the Eva family of names, but it actually derives from Ulf, a name meaning "wolf." It's not a very intuitive name to English-speakers, and likely won't get picked up in the US anytime soon. At last count, it was only given to five American baby girls.