For Names' Sake

Male or Female?

2010-09-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Finland has a law that a male child needs to have a male name, a female child a female name. However, it's often difficult for foreigners to recognize which gender a name is. Finnish doesn't have simply -a ending for women and -o ending for men, and sometimes names with only one letter difference are of different genders. (Swedish is even worse, but I'll write about it another time.) Here are some examples of names that may seem illogical.

Sources: The Finnish Population Register's name search

(Unfortunately, you can't link to individual search results.)

"Kutsu Vaikka Kukkaseksi", edited by Pirjo-Riitta Syrjänen. (Karisto 2002)

Name series with minor differences

Anne - female

Hanne - female (Hannelore; the form Hannele is vastly more common here)

Janne - male (Jan or Johannes)

Manne - male

Anni - female

Jani - male (Jan)

Jenni - female

Ninni - female

Roni - male

Sanni - female (Sanna, Susanna)

Sini - female (sininen, "blue")

Toni - male (Anttoni)

Emmi - female

Immi - female

Kimi - male (Joakim)

Mimmi - female

Sami - male

Tomi, Tommi - male

Ari - male

Inari - female (place name in Lappland)

Jari - male

Kari - male

Lari - male

Mari - female

Sari - female (Saara)

Alli - female (a bird name)

Eemeli - male (Emil)

Elli - female (Elisabet)

Olli - male (Olavi)

Salli - female

Tuuli - female ("wind")

Assi - female

Essi - female (Esteri)

Kirsi - female (Kerstin, Kirsten)

Lassi - male (Lars)

Liisi - female

Ossi - male (Oskari)

Eevi - female

Leevi - male

Suvi - female ("summer")

Taavi - male (David)

Viivi - female (Vivica, Vivian)

Male names ending in -a

Most -a endings are female names (Sanna, Elina, Reetta, Jaana, Tarja, Tuula, etc.). However, there are some notable exceptions.

-Ilkka, which is apparently a Finnish-originated name. Very common among men in their 50's and 60's, and very male in connotation. However, there have been some female Ilkkas (yet less than 15).

-Kaleva, derived from the Kalevala, also a region in Finland. There are about 2900 men and less than 21 women with this name. It's been strictly male since 1960, perhaps because of President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen. The vastly more common form is Kalevi - 142,272 men and less than 10 women.

-Some forms of traditional names

Iisak -> Iikka

Jaakob - Jaakkima (quite uncommon though)

Johannes - > Juha, Jukka, Juhana

Konsta -> Konstantin

Mikael -> Mika, Miika, Miikka

Peter -> Pekka

Some Biblical names

Elia (Elijah)

Joona (Jonah)

Sampsa (Samson) - this name also appears in the Kalevala, as wizard Väinämöinen's servant.

Oiva - "decent, great"

Some gender confusion seems to have occured here, since 183 women were named Oiva before the year 1940, but none thereafter. The name is gaining in popularity, with 934 new Oivas in the 2000's. That's a surprise to me.

Reima

"reipas", brisky

or a form of Raymond (rei is pronounced like ray). Peaked in the 1940's and 50's, with a significant drop after 1970. I must say I associate this with middle-aged men too. But who says only men can be brisky? There have been some female Reimas in the 1920's and 30's, but since the search says "less than five", that might only mean one. Never a popular name, less than 3,000 men have been named Reima.

Turkka, Tuukka

Turkka is a form of Nordic Ture, which comes from Thor. Another Finnish form is Turo.

Tuukka is of uncertain origin; it could be from Ture also, or from the name Tukhe.

Tuukka is a trendy name among babies, with 4,825 bearers all in all, while Turkka has remained very unpopular - only about 530 men. There are no female Tuukkas in Finland, but there are some sporadic female Turkkas. Wow. I'd say, if anything, Tuukka is the more female one. If I had to choose. They both sound male to me.

Vesa, Visa

These are both nature names. "Vesa" is a young tree or a tree branch growing out of a tree stump; "visa" is a kind of birch tree. Wikipedia notes that Vesa was suggested as a name by H. A. Reinhold in 1879, but did not became popular until the 1900's. Out of the two names, Vesa has been the vastly more popular one, especially common among men in their 40's today. Surprisingly, Vesa is still the more popular name among babies, with 344 new Vesas in the 2000's, against 158 Visas.

Female names ending in o and u

-Female names Pirjo and Pirkko are Finnish forms of Birgitta (B and G are not traditionally a part of Finnish). There has been some gender confusion - with less than 25 men named Pirkko, mostly before 1940, against the almost 35,000 women. The situation with Pirjo is almost similar: less than 22 men, around 34,500 women. Both names peaked in the 1940's and 50's, making them slightly "old lady"ish to me, even if I know young women and children by both names.

Ironically, Pirkka is a primarily male name (but has been used for some women still in the 60's and 70's). The most famous bearer of this name is actor/comedian Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, who happens to have two names ending in -a.

-Kaino and Vieno, which both mean approximately "shy" and "coy", have been given to both men and women. However, Kaino has been much more even - with about 2,500 men and 3,000 women - while Vieno has been very strongly female of late - around 2,300 men and 14,500 women. The quality may be more associated with women, and therefore has been given to girls more, whereas some parents may have thought the -o ending sounds male. With old names such as these, it may be difficult to make the distinction of male/female name, and the legislation recognizes such cases. There are some male Vienos born in the 1990's and 2000's (albeit very few).

Some -o and -u endings have ended up female, possibly because of their meanings:

Aamu, "morning"
Similar to Dawn. "Evening" happens to be Ilta, so that looks distinctly female. Aamu has always been very unusual, but it's rising rapidly - a total of 505 female Aamus, 436 of which born in the 2000's! Interestingly, there are also less than 20 male Aamus, the last ones born in the 40's or 50's. In comparison, there are 1,500+ women named Ilta.

Kaisu

a form of Kaisa/Kajsa - probably started as a nickname. The Finnish tendency is always to give the nickname as an official first name (Juha/Juho/Jussi instead of Juhani, etc.) Kaisu is, however, not very popular - only 5,354 against the 27,412 Kaisas out there. There are no men named Kaisu.

Kielo, "Lily of the Valley"

The Finnish national flower. Between 1920 and '39, six men were given the name Kielo, but after that it has been strictly female. Never very popular, there have only been 794 with this name. However, seems like it's having a revival with 109 new Kielos in the 2000's (compared with only 112 between the years 1960 and 1999!)

Maiju

from Maija/Maja, again from a nickname. Maiju sounds cute and tender to me, but somewhat childish. There are 40,008 Maijas and 4,663 Maijus, so perhaps many others feel the same way.

Minttu, "mint"

Basically all Minttus in Finland are young, with less than ten of them born before 1980. It may have become more popular due to the children's books about siblings Minttu and Santtu. I certainly remember the books from my childhood, and perhaps this is why I love the name. The unfortunate thing about Minttu is that it's close to our F word, "vittu". Only about 3,000 women in Finland with this name, and less than 15 men (the name has apparently only recently become fully female, but male use was always sporadic).

Ruusu, "rose"

The forms Ruusa and Roosa are far more common -440 Ruusus, 739 Ruusas and 7,377 Roosas -, even if they are not used as a word for "rose" here. I find the triple U pretty disturbing myself. Ruusu and Ruusa have been popular cow names, and maybe this connotation has killed the name's appeal to some. (Although I've also read that the first Minttu was bullied for having a cow name, which might explain why it didn't peak until the 1980's.)

Satu, "fairytale"

Probably translated from Swedish Saga, which looks more "female" in form. The name has been given to about 26,500 women and less than ten men, and peaked in the 1960's and 70's. To me, this name is associated with pretty girls slightly older than myself, a very positive connotation.

Sisko, "sister"

A rare case: this name has never been given to a boy, so we can assume the meaning has been the same since at least the 1800's. About 29,500 women have been given this name, almost half of them born between 1940 and 50. This, along with Veli (brother), was popular among the baby boomers' generation. Big families, lots of sisters, I suppose. I've always found this name particularly charming, perhaps because I never got that sister I wanted...

Sointu

A poetic word, meaning "melody", "note", or even "chime". The word sounds very beautiful to me as a Finnish-speaker. I can imagine it does no such thing for a foreigner though. This has never been a popular name, with only about 2,000 women and around 150 (!!) men. However, it seems to be rising with 150 new female Sointus in the 2000's. The name has been strictly female only since 1980, which might explain the high number of men.

Taru, "story" or "myth"

See above, a poetic and somehow uplifting word for a native speaker. The name has been strictly female since 1960, but peaked in the 1980's. 6,870 women have been named Taru, along with a surprisingly high 70+ men. If Satus are girls older than me, Tarus are girls my age, and this has given the name a very positive ring in my ears.

Vanamo, "linnea"

Linnea is also in use in Finland (and vastly more popular, with almost 25,000 Linneas and around 530 Vanamos). Interestingly, men have also been named Vanamo, most recently in this decade. Roses, anemones and lilies-of-the-valley hold a much more important place in Finnish tradition than linneas, which may be a reason why the name has been less popular. Linnea is becoming very common among babies, while Vanamo keeps to a steady low (about 300 Vanamos born in the 2000's, against about 5,000 Linneas!).

Vuokko, "anemone"

Again a name that sounds pretty, but probably only to a native speaker. There are 8,756 women by this name in Finland. Most common among women in their 50's and 60's, the name has been strictly female since 1940, and only ever given to 20 men. The similar name Orvokki, meaning "violet", has been hugely more popular, with around 46,000 women and less than 40 men.

Don't Trust Baby Name Sites.

2010-07-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm looking at an Australian baby name site with a list of "Finnish" names and their meanings (scroll down to see them). I've often heard of these sites and the invented meanings - "Nevaeh is Slavic for butterfly!" - but I didn't know they also contain a number of "Finnish" invented names.

The first one that caught my eye:

ANTTIRI - Finnish Mannish.

This is not a Finnish name, I have never heard of it, and the Census Bureau search gives zero results. FAIL. Antti, on the other hand, is a Finnish name, a form of Anthony. "Mannish" would be "miehekäs". But that's not a name.

Apparently a whole bunch of the names on the list are either spelled wrong, present in many alternate spellings that don't exist, or just plain don't exist (in Finland). The meanings are a bit awry too - I won't look up all of them but some of them look plain made up. (Think every gods-related name that doesn't come from Hebrew.)

What spawns these sites? Do parents-to-be want their baby names to mean something grand, but are unwilling to look them up in actual dictionaries? You'd think that on the Internet, you can find a forum with members from other countries and, you know, ASK them what names are popular in their country, etc. I suppose it's easier to browse through a site like this, but if the results are false, you may end up with a non-name. (Which, of course, doesn't deter some parents as long as it's unique.)

After looking through the list of Finnish names, I'm willing to say these are either submitted by various people, some of whom have misspelled and made names up; or written by a couple of authors with only a sporadic knowledge of Finnish language, myth and culture. If you want to avoid made ups, here's a list of what's wrong on that page.

Annikki is a Finnish name, but I don't think it means "bitter". It's a form of Anna.

Ingria - never heard. There are apparently a few people of both sexes named this, though.

Jaakkina - NOT a name. Jaakkima is a MALE name, form of Jaakko.

Jan, Jaan, and Janne are in use, Finnish forms of Jean/John. They do not mean "swallow bird" or "pretty colors". The other forms of this name are not in use here.

Jano - not in use, and means "thirst".

Jorma is a name. Jurma is not.

Kalle - "a form of Carol"? Um, if they meant Carl, OK. But not Carol.

-nen does not mean "son of". It means "of a place", or "little". I.e., if you lived by a lake (järvi), you got the name Järvinen (of the lake). I think they're confusing "nen" with "son".

Mirjam - is in use but Mirjami is more common. Doesn't it actually mean "bitter"?

Niky - a couple of people seem to have gotten this name. But Niko is the actual Finnish form.

Ottelia - extremely uncommon (Ottilia would be more like it). Not sure about all those meanings though. Probably none of them is real. "Ottelija" could be a very old-fashioned word for an athlete.. "Ottelu" means match.

Wilma - in use (among Swedish-speakers mostly), but Vilma is the more Finnish form.

Also Not Finnish:

Anneke, Annalie, Annie

Hannah - should be Hanna

Inaree, Inarey - Inari is correct though

Kalevee, Kalevay - Kalevi is correct

Kalwa - no w in Finnish. Heroine would be "sankaritar", so I don't know what this is.

This was particularly interesting - apparently there's a whole group of names beginning with Lada -. Ladannah, Ladanne, and so forth. Only none of these is found on the census search. "The mother of the gods"? Lada is Swedish for "barn", and the Finnish word is "lato". The only Lada I know of was my grandpa's rickety old car.

Lase - how could this be a form of Nicholas? Lasse, as a form of Lars, does exist.

Marg, Margae - Margit and Margita are in use, but not these.

Marjah, Marjae - Marja is correct, it means "berry" in Finnish. Finnish has no silent h, so there are no female names like Marjah.

Marjatte, Marjie - Marjatta would be correct but isn't there!

Martii - no. Martti does exist. (I don't see how this is "a short form of Martin", because it's the same length.)

Nyckie, Nycky, Nyki, Nyky - Nyki is what we sometimes call New York, "nyky" means "modern-" and the rest are just incredibly un-Finnish.

Paav - Finnish words can end in a vowel or t, s, n, or l. Never ever v.

Parttyli - laughed out loud at this one. WTF? It sounds ridiculous!

Russu - LOL! OK, it might be a typo of "Ruusu", which does mean Rose. But if you change the R in Russu into a T, you get "cunt". Do not name your child this!

Reju - no. Reijo and Reko are in use though.

Rut, Ruta, Rute - Ruut is the Finnish form of Ruth, tho rarely use for its harsh sound in Finnish. "Ruta" is Swedish for "window frame" or "square".

Rysto - the correct form is Risto.

Sirree, Sirrey, etc. - no no no. The Finnish form of Sara is Saara. Siri and Siiri are also in use, but not any of these others.

Syrry - Oh my god. I don't think the authors on this site have ANY idea how y sounds in Finnish.

Taaveti, Taavetie, Taavety - Taavetti and Taavi are correct. Finnish form of David.

Tanel, Tanelie, Tanella, etc. - Taneli is the only spelling. Finnish form of Daniel.

Tapamn - impossible in Finnish. Finnish words never end in two consonants.

Tavertie, Tavery - Wtf? No.

Timmo, Tymmo, Tymo - it's Timo, and it's not a "short form of Timothy" so much as the only form in use here.

Toyvo - Toivo is correct. The meaning is right too, for once..

Valkoinen - does mean "white". But is not used as a first name. Not sure I've even heard it as a last name. Maybe Valkonen?

Vayna, Vaynah, Vayno - not in use. Väinö is a male name. It's a legend name from the Kalevala, a short from of Väinämöinen. I don't think it means "builder of wagons".

Voytto - Voitto is correct. The meaning is not "winner" but "victory".

Wetu - never heard. Not sure what this would even be.

Possibly derived from some existing name like Eetu or Peetu.

Unique Names - Do They Exist?

2010-07-22T06:41:00.001-07:00

I had a post about this back in the day, but while re-reading, I noticed I had mentioned a real friend's real baby name choice. It sounded a bit rude, especially since I hadn't asked for permission. It came off as making her a bad example who's a stickler for unique names (even if I liked her name choice as such). Eh, okay. Let's put that down under "things I've learned about blogging". In fact, I may want to steer clear of discussing real names of real family members/friends.

Names used to be a marker of a person's family. A baby was often given the name of the father, and after that, the grandparents and other relatives were honored. In the Bible, when Zachary wants to name his son John (the Baptist), the response from the relatives is: "There's no one by that name in either families!" Obviously that was a while back, but the junior tradition has been persistent in the US. In Finland, it's more likely that the children be given middle names after a family member. In the famous book trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden Alla, all sons get the middle name Juhani after their grandfather. One grandson is then named after him, but the mother finds Juhani old-fashioned and uses Johannes. (Amusingly, Johannes would sound more old-fashioned now.)

These days, perhaps as a result of our individualistic culture, people want to give their children unique names. One could say that unique has become a trend, as oxymoronic as that may sound. But can you really be unique in a world with 6,000,000,000 people? I'm typing out the zeros just to emphasize the point: that's a LOT of people. Moreover, the English-speaking culture is so wide-spread that it makes uniqueness quite a challenge. If a name is usable, one might assume that it's already been used on someone, sometime.

So what is the good side of having a name that is unique? I've often wondered about this, because I really can't think of, well, anything. I have a fairly unusual double name, and people frequently have trouble remembering and spelling it. It's frustrating. But my name is a combination of two more traditional names, not a completely new formation. That would be a different thing entirely, because I'd carry the effect of the expectations that name evokes in people.

If my name were, say, Starlight Fairytale, what would people imagine when they hear it? If they didn't giggle, they might expect a pretty little princess, which I'm most certainly not. (At least not in my own eyes.) It would be embarrassing. My parents might get a few "wow, original" comments, but so what? Would that comfort me when others pick on me at school, or when I have to spell and explain my name everywhere?

Almost all teenagers want to be the same as others and fit in. If people want to stand out, they can be creative on their own and think of a moniker that truly describes them - if you want to be Ravenclaw when you're fifteen, knock yourself out. But if you want to be Emily and your parents picked Ravenclaw because it's unique, you're probably incredibly ashamed of it.

The ironic thing about the unique trend is that it seems to create trends and make certain names popular.

Five Ways of Picking a Unique Name - that don't work:

1. Spelling an old name in a "creative" way.

As long as it still sounds the same, it's not a new name.

Emily, Emilie, Emilee, Emmilee, Emlee, etc. are all the same name, but now everyone has to ask how it's spelled. If you want Emily but want to avoid her being one of many, try Emilia, Emmeline, Amelie, Amelia. (Warning: these are also becoming increasingly popular though.)

Or you could take a new trend name and alter it: Michaela becomes Mikayla, Makayla, Makaela, even Mckayla. They all sound pretty much the same. Yet there's a less popular and simpler female form of Michael - Michelle.

2. Picking a name from a book/movie/song.

Of course, it may not be a bad idea to pick a name that means a lot to you. There's a difference between picking Fiona and picking Shrek or Donkey for your baby name. One of these is a name with a history outside of the Shrek franchise. But not as unique as Shrek, of course.

The "uniqueness" problem is that this is popular culture, not just your personal reference. No Mom or Dad is the only one to read that book, see that movie, listen to that music. There's no way of making sure that yours is the only Hagrid, or Luna, or Sookie. In fact, there's no way of knowing s/he won't be one of many in his/her class. How weird would it be if a class had Hagrid S, Hagrid L and Hagrid M? Yet it's possible when something is a huge hit.

3. a. Adding a letter to an existing name.

Aidan became a huge hit in recent years. To avoid the overpopularity, parents have started to add letters in the beginning - and funkifying the spelling. There's Jaiden, Caden, Raden, Zaden - even Xaden, Maden and Laiden. This has very quickly gone from fresh to trite. While these are (mostly) solid-sounding names, they're not unique by far anymore. And if there are two Aidans, three Jadens and one Caden in a class, how is the teacher going to tell them apart? I know I'd have trouble. One letter does not a new name make.

3 b. Deducting a letter from an existing name.

Everly/Everleigh - it's cute because, well, it's Beverly without the B. It's not really all that unique, and is in fact becoming a trend. It may sound more like a real name than, say, Ogan or Awyer, because of the words "ever" and "every". Incidentally, Ever is also a trending name right now.

So is Addison/Addie so popular simply because it's Madison/Maddy without the M? Or was it the TV connection that did it? Probably both. The name did exist, as a male name, before the latest craze. Addie probably did sound equally cute, but fresher than Maddie - the first couple of times. But really, it's almost the same. I suspect people will get really tired of both quickly.

4. Picking the same name as a celebrity.

Again, popular culture. The irony here is that many celebrities are already following a trend. With the possible exception of Sonny Sandoval, who's "Nevaeh - it's heaven spelled backwards" started a huge trend. Nevaeh is no longer unique at all, but for a little while, it was unheard of. Until Sandoval was on Cribs on MTV and so many people saw him. It may be an unusual case, but the result is very typical: a Nevaeh may have to go by Nevaeh (initial) for the rest of their lives. As for Naveah and Navaeh, see point 1.

5. Coming up with a name all on your own.

Admittedly, you can come up with a completely unique name - but you have to go all out. Think Moon Unit, Pilot Inspektor, Moxie Crimefighter. It will sound a little... well, ridiculous. If nobody used it before you, it's probably for a reason. It's a huge stamp on your child's forehead.

Surprisingly often, mothers claim online that they were the FIRST with a name and then everybody started mimicking them! How outrageous! It may be a case of people hearing your baby name, but then how many people in your area actually heard of you and your kid? How would you know you're the first one, unless you read all the birth notices in the world and all the info on the existing names... You may be giving your child a name that nobody in your family has used so far - but it could already be getting popular in your area.

The truth is, nobody names in a vacuum. When your brain tries to come up with something, it's almost certainly drawing on popular culture, names you've overheard somewhere but can't consciously remember, and so forth. I used to think I came up with Senbad, but really it's just one letter away from Sinbad, and I just googled it and.. yeah, it IS in use. Of course. I wasn't consciously thinking of Sinbad the sailor, but of course that's where my brain took it. I was ten, so a grown up's name-inventing process may be more complicated. Or not.

Even if you were able to come up with a completely new name, who's to say that someone, somewhere, isn't thinking of the exact same name at this very moment? Keeping the name your own and completely unique would mean never telling the name to anybody - even after the baby is born. In other words, it wouldn't be the baby's name but yours, and you'd have to put it in a vault to protect it. Which isn't really what names are for.

I'm Back. (I Think.)

2010-07-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

So it's been... what, three years since I last posted? O.o

I'm not really sure what happened here. I enjoyed having this blog and got quite a few comments at one point. But for some reason, I burned out. Maybe I had too many blogs or maybe I just got busier. I did graduate during this time. Sadly, I'm still working on getting a better job, but at least I have a lot of time in my hands to think and write.

Names continue to fascinate me, but maybe I went through a phrase where they meant less. Obviously, having no children, naming issues aren't a burning concern in my life and mainly serve as a nice pastime. I can take them out of the drawer when I please and play with them. So this blog will probably reflect that. Which it did, in the beginning, but I may have gotten carried away, as I'm wont to do. I wanted to post long, thought-out things with charts and origins and they got to be too much work. This is always a problem with my blogs.

The Finnish name posts took quite a lot of time to compose. While I enjoyed making them, I may not have the energy to make any more at the moment. I know there aren't all that many blogs about Finnish names, but if you're interested specifically in name origins, there are some other resources available. I may be more into oddities or current trends myself.

If people have specific questions about Finnish names, I might, however, be interested in answering and helping them find information. Mind you, I'm no expert; My MA is in English Philology, but Finnish is my native language, so I can be of help with Finnish-speaking sites.

During the past three years, I have hopefully learned more about blog writing. I may also have changed my opinions on some names and naming styles. I won't go through the old posts and delete the ones that no longer correspond to my style; they are products of a younger self. You may notice, however, that I deleted the one on Lemongello/Orangello. My final word: After some thought, I'm sure these guys do exist somewhere. But I believe they were named after the myth, not the other way around, and I don't believe in all of the sightings. I have no interest in starting a blog war on the subject, as it doesn't mean very much to me anyway. Sorry if I offended anyone.

I'm guessing most of my traffic came and still comes from Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing. I'm still a sporadic reader and poster there and PM's are welcome. However, I may sometimes enjoy names that are "tryndee" in the BNABBT forum's eyes. The more common certain names become - Madison, Addison, Carter - the more I find them completely usable and normal. Not being a native speaker, I'm more likely to accept English-speaking names, especially if they've been used for a while. Back in the day, I may have tried too hard to fit in by hating on some names rather more forcefully than I actually do. From now on, I'll be honest though. For instance, I do like Logan, Willow and Harper. I don't know why, but I do.

Mind you, there is no unified "BNABBT taste", and I've never had a fight over name tastes there. The main reason I enjoy the forum is that these are intelligent people who make good arguments, even when I don't agree on the individual names. I'm just trying to come clean and separate my own name-fan identity from the one I had in 2007.

The tryndee thing is coming to Finland - we're seeing more and more X instead of the traditional KS, and foreign-sounding names with completely Finnish surnames (I think an ad had the fictional example of Alejandro Ronaldinho Möttönen). I'm not the judge of anyone's taste, but I do retain the right to criticize people's reasons for picking certain names. And be honest if I just don't like a name.

Finnish Top Names of 2007, part 2: Boy Names

2008-05-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

1. Veeti
2. Eetu
3. Aleksi
4. Elias
5. Onni
6. Lauri
7. Leevi
8. Joona
9. Arttu
10. Juho
11. Matias
12. Jesse
13. Rasmus
14. Niko
15. Otto
16. Niilo
17. Aapo
18. Jimi
19. Aaro
20. Ville
21. Niklas
22. Aatu
23. Jere
24. Valtteri
25. Oskari
26. Daniel
27. Juuso
28. Leo
29. Miro
30. Konsta
31. Kalle
32. Mikael
33. Eero
34. Joonas
35. Joel
36. Julius
37. Luka
38. Oliver
39. Anton
40. Tuomas
41. Santeri
42. Akseli
43. Roope
44. Jaakko
45. Samuel
46. Atte
47. Samu
48. Vili
49. Eemeli
50. Eeli

Ella bugs, but Veeti is even worse. While it was in use before 1900, it had only been given to about 500 men before the 2000's. All of a sudden, there are over 4,000 new Veetis around. Is this because of singer Veeti Kallio (who had a band called Veeti & The Velvets)? I must say I don't get the appeal - this name isn't attractive at all to my ear, it's hard to imagine on an adult and it sounds nicknamey. And haven't all women of the current Mom generation heard of Veet the hair removal cream? Maybe that's the reason I hate the name so much. I guess I should accept that it's just so close to other trend names - Eetu as number 2 really explains it. People want something like Eetu, but different, and since they don't know any Veetis, they go for that one. It doesn't make me like the name though. I maintain this is Finland's Jayden.

Miro, Luka, Jimi and Rasmus belong to the trendy category. Jimi Pääkallo, or Jimi The Skull in English, is a famous singer and must have affected the name's popularity, while Rasmus Nalle (Bamse) and the band The Rasmus are probably behind the sudden Rasmus craze. These are names of the late 90's and 2000's.

There seem to be many very traditional names on the chart. Onni (luck/happiness), previously a very old man name, has become very popular. Aapo is another surprise, as I've never even considered it very attractive (maybe Aapo and Aatu have aided each other?). Elias has become surprisingly big. It sounds a bit pretentious; it might be after Elias Lönnrot, who compiled the Kalevala. Then there's Akseli (Axel), a very traditional name that never really became popular until the 1980's. Aleksi, the more popular similar name, is still very high on the list, which surprises me. Every other boy was called Aleksi in the 90's. I think the same of Jesse and Juho, though. It seems like the girl list varies a bit more. The über-traditional Kalle and Ville are also still high after being popular basically forever. Ah, looking at the name search, Ville apparently suffered a drop between 1920 and 59, after which it quickly became popular again. Kalle has been steadily popular in all generations.

Surprisingly many of these names have been nicknames and have apparently become given names over the years - Eetu (Edward), Jere (Jeremias), Atte/Aatu (Adolf), Roope (Robert), Samu (Samuel/Samuli), Vili (Viljami). (I'm not counting Kalle and Ville, which have been popular in these forms for long enough to feel like full names.) While the girl names are cutesy, the boy names strike me as "perky" nicknames. The divide of the genders - girls are the cute sex, boys are the perky sex. Sigh.

Miro is a name that has skyrocketed into popularity - 58 in 1960-79, 1610 in 1980-99, and already 2620 in this decade! It seems to be a hybrid of Mikko and Aaro, a cutesy short form in the style of Niko, Miko and Sami. Joona seems to be replacing Joonas, which was a huge hit in the 1990's and is still on the list. Valtteri and Oskari have both been popular for a while, and I associate them so strongly with little boys that I have trouble imagining a headmaster or CEO named Valtteri.

I was surprised to see so many "international" names. I have noticed the emergence of Olivers (the Finnish form is Olavi or Olli), but Julius, Niklas and Daniel, which strike me as Swedish more than Finnish, are new to me. This chart is only for Finnish-speakers' children, so it can't be explained with Finland Swedish trends.

And there we go again with the Astrid Lindgren names - Eemeli (Emil) at 49. Actually, it might just be popular because of the female variant Emilia. I do like Eemeli, and unlike Peppi, it's a name with a history here. So maybe there's no reason to complain.

Finnish Top Names of 2007, part 1: Girl Names

2008-05-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Population Register Center has published this year's top names. Since these are PDF/Excel files (and why?!), I will type in the top 50. Sadly, it doesn't go further than that. (It seems like you can't access the statistics in English, so check the second link if you want to see the files. This is from "suosituimmat suomenkielisten lasten etunimet", and if you open the file, you will have all given names on the left hand column, first names only on the right. I've picked first names only, because all given names tends to overemphasize the longer names often given as middle names.)

GIRLS

1. Ella
2. Emma
3. Aino
4. Anni
5. Venla
6. Sara
7. Iida
8. Emilia
9. Siiri
10. Helmi
11. Aada
12. Sofia
13. Vilma
14. Veera
15. Sanni
16. Nea
17. Julia
18. Lotta
19. Ronja
20. Viivi
21. Oona
22. Pinja
23. Emmi
24. Milla
25. Laura
26. Jenna
27. Anna
28. Inka
29. Neea
30. Nella
31. Elsa
32. Olivia
33. Alisa
34. Noora
35. Iina
36. Elli
37. Saana
38. Pihla
39. Silja
40. Ilona
41. Kerttu
42. Maija
43. Minttu
44. Milja
45. Nelli
46. Eevi
47. Peppi
48. Saara
49. Iiris
50. Minea

I must say I'm disappointed. Ella is so worn out and dull, and it's super popular everywhere. I don't even think it's that good a name to begin with - cutesy and unsubstantial are words that come to mind. See also Elli and Elsa. Emma, Emmi and Emilia speak of the ongoing popularity of Em- names. I happen to like them all, but I'm still a bit annoyed that Ella and Emma are the top 2 - it would be nice to have a bit of variety.

Overall, there are many very similar cutesy names. Ella, Elli, Nella, Nelli, Eevi, Viivi, Peppi, Neea, etc. Sanni at 15 is a shock. I consider Anni to be a name fit for all ages, but Sanni sounds childish to me, perhaps because it hasn't been popular for very long, and Sanna was a big hit in my own generation. Doubtlessly Anni and Sanni have aided each other. Short names seem to be the norm all of a sudden. In my generation, boys had short names like Mika and Pasi, while girl names tended to have more letters - Hanna, Sanna, Kirsi, etc.

What surprises me is the sudden popularity of Laura and Jenna. Laura and Jenni with an i were the big hit names of the late 80's-early 90's, and I'm sure there are many young mothers named Laura right now (I personally know a couple). Jenna, not very popular in my youth, has replaced Jenni. Interestingly, Jenni was a hit around the same time that Jennifer took the US by storm. Just like the popularity of Ella, Emma and Emily/Emilia have happened at the same time.

Anna has been steadily popular forever, but there's apparently been a surge in it since the 1980's. I'm a bit surprised; it's one of those names that are everywhere and yet never seem to be super popular. Kerttu and Helmi are neo-old names, almost unused for the 60's and 70's and then resurfacing in the late 80's and early 90's.

I'm also surprised by the continuing popularity of Inka, which was a big hit already in the late 80's and early 90's. Mirka, a similarly popular name in that era, has fallen drastically and only about a hundred babies got the name last year, while Inka has been given to more than a thousand. I've never liked either name, but it seems like there's something more lasting about Inka. Saana, Iina and Oona are all names that were very rare before the 1980's and then skyrocketed. The similar Jaana, which was super popular in the 1960's and 70's, has become unpopular.

Pinja and Pihla, two similar-sounding tree names, have apparently become very popular all of a sudden. I like both a lot. Silja and Milja, other personal favorites, are still popular. However, I would have thought Milja is higher, and am surprised that Milla has become more popular. Maybe Milja is becoming too common now and Milla seems like a nice way to vary it?

As I predicted, Peppi, after Pippi Longstockings, has entered the top 50. I love the books and I think she's a great role model to girls per se, but the use of the name baffles me. It's not very pretty, it sounds overly perky and cutesy, and the literary connotation is so obvious. Ronja, also after an Astrid Lindgren book, fits in the Finnish name tradition (Silja, Milja, Sonja) much better. I hope we won't see an emergence of some other Astrid Lindgren characters - Madiken? Tjorven?

What amuses me is Minea at 50. This is a relative newcomer and I'm sure that the parents that gave their daughters this name thought they were very original. With only 1032 Mineas in Finland, 798 of them born in this decade, I suspect this was THE "unique" name of 2007. The same could, perhaps, be said about Peppi - Only 291 between 1980 and 99, then zoom - 1002 just in the last eight years. How could the parents have foreseen this?

Quick Observations: Finland-Swedish Names

2008-03-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

(Finland-Swedish: a person born and bred in Finland who speaks Swedish as their mother tongue.)

I've been calling Finland-Swedish people a lot at my gallup job lately. These are surveys where you can see the person's name, and I've already picked up on many trends in the names. Here are some of the things I ponder on while making those interminably dull gallup calls.

1. There's a certain group of names are almost always smushed or hyphenated with each other. These names are repeated so often that I've come to hate them all. They are, in alphabetical order: Ann, Britt, Gun*, Lis, Maj, Mari.
They all have longer forms that are used as full names: Anna/Anne, Britta/Birgitta, Gunilla/Gunvor, Maja, Maria. I'm not sure if the short or long forms came first, but it seems like the short forms are not meant to stand alone. These names are almost solely found on middle-aged women, which makes them seem frumpy and dull to me. Not to mention that I don't think Britt looks very attractive. Maj and Lis just seem incomplete to me, probably because of Finnish names Maija and Liisa. Some of the most common combinations: Maj-Lis**, Gun-Britt, Ann-Britt, Ann-Mari, Britt-Mari.
*= it's not pronounced at all like "gun", so I hadn't thought of that connection until I wrote the name down. Hee, gun!
**=This was, at one point, so common in Finland that it spawned a "Finnishized" variation, Mailis. Maija-Liisa is also way too common.

2. Patrik seems to be the name of every other young guy born in the late 70's and early 80's. I like the name, and with the first few ones I thought, "How refreshing, a Patrik!" until about the fifth one, after which I started thinking, "Ugh, another Patrik?!" After a while, the same repeated with Sebastian and Robin. These names are not common at all among Finnish-speakers here (in fact almost nonexistent), so they used to sound fresh to me, but not anymore.

3. Saga, which means "fairytale", is a pretty common baby name now, but I've noticed it's an old lady name for Finland-Swedish people. After about five old Sagas (and I mean exclusively 75+ years old), I stopped seeing this as a pretty name and it started to sound dated and frumpy. Why do the names of old and/or middle-aged women always end up sounding frumpy? On an unrelated note, why are old and/or middle-aged women so often grumpy to gallup callers? Would I find their names prettier if they were nicer?

4. Emelie seems to be a common Swedish spelling of Emily (I think it has a pretty long usage too). I have to remind myself that it sounds like Emily, because my Finnish brain wants to read it as Em-eh-lee-eh. We really only use Emilia in Finland. Also, the stress is apparently on the LIE syllable. That surprised me. EmeLEE.

5. I'm still amused by Björn and Torbjörn, because björn means "bear". Hee, bear. It doesn't help that men with these names often have very low voices. Almost solely middle-aged guys. I imagine them as big hairy hulks. It's not necessarily a negative connotation, just amusing.

6. I know this is true of Finnish names too, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the female/male divisions. Gösta is male, while Göta is female; Christer is male, while Christel is female; Tore is male, while Tove is female. I go nuts trying to figure out what gender someone's supposed to be. You just have to learn each name individually. I can only imagine how confusing this is for someone with no knowledge of Swedish spelling and pronunciation. I don't always see the difference between Gösta and Göta if I read quickly, but if I had trouble with ä, ö and å, it would be even worse. Swedish g pronunciation can be confusing too (in these, it's like y in "year").

(I know, six points seems incomplete, but it was only supposed to be quick observations, so there you have it.)

LOL (Name-Related Comic)

2008-03-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

LOL!

On Request: The -kki Ending in Names

2008-03-02T06:14:00.001-08:00

Reader Hanicka asked about names ending in -kki. I've tried to look into this, but I didn't find much in the way of meaning. However, it looks like the origin is that -kki was commonly used in cow names, the most common being Mansikki and Mustikki (derived from strawberry 'mansikka' and blueberry 'mustikka). It's also fairly common in flower names - orvokki, kaunokki, lehdokki, mielikki. Orvokki (violet) is the only one of those that is common as a female name (given to 45,497 women), but the tradition of adding -kki to a flower's name might have been a positive connotation.

There's a certain childlike connotation to -kki as well. Snow White was translated into Finnish as Lumikki (lumi meaning snow), while Astrid Lindgren's Madicken turned into Marikki. There are 337 women named Lumikki in Finland, as well as 328 Marikkis. One man has also been named Lumikki in the early 1900's.

But really, how can you explain a trend? -ia is the norm now and -kki was trendy in the early-to-mid 1900's, particularly 1920-39. The three most popular -kki names:
1. Annikki (96,827 women and 1 man)
2. Tuulikki (73,235 women and 2 men)
3. Kyllikki (67,339 women and 1 man)
These names are probably most common as middle names due to their three-syllabic structure. In Finland, the longest name is generally placed last. Päivikki, derived from the very popular middle-aged lady name Päivi, has been given to 10,563 women but also 4 men. Much less common, but noteworthy, is the name Lemmikki, meaning "favorite" or "pet", given to 1946 women and 11 men. This form suggests that -kki can also signal endearment.

As for adding -kki to any name, it would seem that this is not possible. There really aren't that many different -kki names (I came across about 30 in my search). The only variations in use seem to be -ikki and -okki, with the sole exceptions of Ailakki (64 women) and Anjakki (1 woman). Some -kki forms have been derived from more popular names by changing the final -a to -i, like Anna-> Annikki (although Anni is also in use). However, this doesn't work for all popular female names: Eevikki has only been given to one woman, while Hannikki is not in use at all.

The male names ending in -kki are fewer. If we discount short names like Heikki and Mikki, where the -kki is part of the name itself rather than a suffix, we get a very small selection. Kalevala name Nyyrikki, name of the "son of the forest", has been given to 179 men, but also 36 women. For names derived from other languages, -kki is sometimes added: Iisakki (9869 men), Eerikki (3902 men and, strangely, 1 woman). Syyrakki and Nooakki have only been given to one man each, but are worth mentioning as weird and unfitting Biblical formations. I also found the rather strange Mesakki and Jermakki, each only given to one man. Amusingly, an online source mentions that similarly to -kki's cow name origin, -o was commonly used in bull names and then became popular in male names - meaning names like Timo, Paavo, and Aimo might have originated as bull names.

Some other -kki names I found (women/men):

Aalikki (0/1), Aallokki (3/1), Ainikki (616/0), Heinikki (75/0), Kaunokki (3/o), Lehdokki (2/0), Lumikki (337/1), Maarikki (2/0), Mailikki (25/0), Merikki (20/0), Mielikki (1012/5), Oilikki (18/0), Pilvikki (260/0), Pälvikki (2/0), Sinikki (1/0).

Finnish Meaning Names, Part 2: Elements and Weather

2008-02-23T12:44:00.001-08:00

Taivas - "sky/heaven". 2 men. Sky/e and Skylar have become popular in English-speaking countries, but the same will probably never happen to Taivas, which also means heaven and is therefore a pretty sappy connotation for many Finnish people. I know Heaven/Nevaeh are popular too, but this somehow sounds silly to Finns. The name Taivas has been used once between 1980-99 and once between 2000-07. I'm a bit surprised it was allowed. Maybe it's a middle name.

Taivo - an older, more poetic name for sky. 87 men. The name debuted in the early 1900's, perhaps because of the Kalevala where the name appears (there was a big boom of more Finnish names around the time we became independent). The peak was 1960-79 with 55 new Taivos, but the name hasn't been used in the 2000's at all. It's not a bad name, and some other male names use the -ai-o structure (Aimo, Raimo). I would associate it with Toivo (hope) though, and that's an über-old man name, so I'm not sure I'd use this on a child.

Ilma - "air". 2236 women. Most common between 1900-19, perhaps because of the similarity to Hilma. For the same reason, the name doesn't sound very beautiful pretty to my ears. Extremely rare in the latest decades, with only 18 girls given this name in the 2000's. Might come from Ilmari.

Ilmari - 109,619 men. This name is so common that it doesn't really register as "air" anymore; it just sounds like a regular male name. The name comes from Kalevala. Ilmarinen was the blacksmith who made the Sampo, a mythical iron object that brought good fortune. Ilmarinen is a last name, but the shorter form Ilmari has been adopted as a first name. Steadily popular, with over 10,000 new Ilmaris in each 20 years. Most common in 1940-59.

Ilmatar - 134 women. The -tar, -tär ending is very archaic (similar to the English -ress in waitress, seamtress, etc.). Surprisingly, the name is only now peaking in popularity, with 63 girls in the 2000's. However, since it's three syllables, this name is unlikely to become a popular first name, and will most likely be used as a second or third name.

Tuuli - "Wind". 5462 women, 2 men. One of my personal favorites, but Finnish people aren't big fans of "literal" nature names like this. Vastly unpopular until 1980-99, when 3031 new Tuulis were born. Already 1251 in this decade, so this might be becoming a big trend name.

Tuulia - 17,927 women. WOW. I had no idea this name was so popular. I did know Tuula was, but not this one. Over 9000 Tuulias were born in the 1980-99 era, so this is also a very young woman name. I think that, since it's three-syllabic, this might be more common as a middle name, thus explaining why I don't hear it much.

Tuulikki - 73,229 women and 2 men. OK, this is bona fide middle name material, with the three syllables and the -kki ending. This is actually the oldest wind-related name in Finland. It was most common in the 1940's and 50's, with 29,768 Tuulikkis born in those decades. Middle names don't tend to wear out as quickly as first names, and the Finnish junior tradition is more likely to show in middle than first names. These two things might help explain why the name hasn't waned as much as you might think; 1303 Tuulikkis have been born in this decade, with one born this year.

Tuula - 41,158 women and 1 man (in 1940-59 - there's a man named Tuula still alive? Poor guy). The name book tells me that this name was derived from the older Tuulikki, but might also have to do with a popular song that had a tralalala-type lyric tula tullan tulatulatei. I'm not sure if I should take that last explanation without a grain of salt, but it's at least interesting. Tuuli is a young girl name, while Tuula is a big middle-aged lady name: 29,229 Tuulas were born between 1940 and 59, so that makes up for more than half of all Tuulas. As you can see above, this was also the big Tuulikki era. Predictably, there's been a giant drop after that. Among the middle-aged lady names, this is actually pretty good - it's not as matronly as some of them, and it has a nice airy feeling. Still, I probably would pick Tuuli for a daughter over Tuula because of the age connotation.

Pilvi: "Cloud". 1257 women. One of my favorites again, but see Tuuli for why it's never become very popular. 733 Pilvis were born between 1980 and 99, and the name wasn't used at all before 1941, which makes it a very "young girl" name. 215 new Pilvis in the 2000's shows that it might have plateaud. I'd imagine that fans of old-lady names Elvi and Helvi, wanting to be a bit more original, might have come across this word with -lvi in the end - and it has a nice nature meaning too.

Aurinko: "The sun". 40 women, 6 men. The first person called Aurinko is a woman born in 1976, so this is a very recent name. Until 2000, it was actually more common among boys, until 37 new female Aurinkos were born in this decade. The closeness to female names Aura and Auri might have to do with this becoming a female name. However, one boy has also been given this name in the 2000's. This name is a handful with the connotations - a child named sun would of course be expected to be "sunny", or happy. It sounds like a name that you'd potentially curse because people always expect you to live up to it.

Kuu: "The moon". 15 women, 7 men. Again, a very recent name - the first female Kuu was born in 1974, and the first male in 1987. In this decade, seven girls and five boys have been given this name. It's rare enough that all the parents of little Kuus probably think they're unique. I like the moon, but the word kuu is very short and childish. It's basically just a long oo sound. Like Aurinko, the connotations are also too strong. It's not as demanding as the sun, but it's still quite too poetic.

Tähti: "Star". 47 women, 2 men. The first female Tähti was born before 1900, but this name never really took on. 24 girls and one boy have been given this name in the 2000's. Seems like this, along with Aurinko and Kuu, is becoming more popular, even if the numbers are still very small. The connotations in Finnish are the same as in English - stars in the sky, stars on stage and so forth. It sounds like a name that people could view as arrogant or vain, rather than pretty and poetic. I wouldn't use it. I also don't like the ä there, or the closeness to the word täti, "aunt".

Otava: "The Big Dipper". 166 men and 3 women. This name debuted as a male name in the 1920's but only became popular in this decade, with 146 Otavas in the 2000's. Until the year 2000, there were only 19 boys with the name, so it's a real trend-riser. The women named Otava are much more scattered: One in 1900-19, one in 1980-99 and one in the 2000's. Even if the name ends in -a and has the -va ending that some Finnish female names (Virva, Mirva, Ritva) share, it seems to be seen as a male name. Otava isn't a bad word, but there's a big publishing house by that name, and it's such a strong association for me that I wouldn't name my child this.

Water

Aalto: "Wave". 6 women and 113 men. Must be the final o that makes this more of a male name. Of course, women had their own form, Aallotar, and in fact Aalto hasn't been used on a woman since 1930. Peaked in 1920-39 with 49 new Aaltos. Ten boys have been given this name in the 2000's. It's one of those names with pretty strong connotations - poetic, yes, but also reminds me of Finnish designer Alvar Aalto. It's in use as a last name, which is rare for a Finnish first name (but probably explains why it's so rare). I don't really see it as a first name at all.

Aallotar: "Wavess"[??] 1138 women. Yes, it's the female form of aalto. It's not used as a word referring to water, of course, but the old -tar, -tär ending signifies female. It sounds incredibly dramatic and is among the names I'd never use. Peaked between 1900 and 1919 with 590. 78 girls have been given this name in the 2000's. I'm quite sure it's mostly a middle name due to its length.

Lumi: "Snow". 861 women, 3 men. If you thought we have so much snow that it's one of our most common names, think again. Lumi is actually a fairly trendy new name here. It debuted in the 1940's and has only really become popular in this decade; 723 out of 861 Lumis were born in the 2000's. Many people still consider this a pretty weird name. I personally like it a lot because of its soft form and nature connotation. Perhaps the connotation with cold and winter is something that Finns try to steer clear of, given the long winters that depress many people. It looks like this name has gone to the girls. The idea of Snow White (Lumikki) might be a reason.

The weather

Kaste: "Dew". 54 women, 6 men. This name was already around as a female name before 1900, but never very popular. Only 2 girls have been given this name in this decade. As a male name, it premiered in the beginning of the 1900's, and the latest male Kaste was born in 1983. As a female name, Kaste peaked in 1920-39 with 23, not very impressive. If we assume that women die approximately at the age of 80 and men 75, it leaves only about 16 women and 2 men named Kaste. New parents are probably discovering this and thinking they're the first. The name is pretty, but might be unpopular due to connotations with wetting your bed (yökastelu) or other unpleasant wet things.

Kastehelmi: Literally dew-pearl, but it means a droplet of morning dew. 672 women. After premiering in the early 1900's, Kastehelmi soon settled on a comfortable popularity of about 100 every 20 years. 1940-59 saw the peak with 183 new Kastehelmis. Due to its length, this name is probably doomed to be a middle name in most cases. 147 girls have been given this name in this decade, which points to a new record if the same trend continues. It's a pretty name, but the length and literal connotation makes it pretty awkward.

Sade: "Rain". 230 women, 1 man. This is a pretty word, but the meaning might sound negative to some, and the name has perhaps therefore been unpopular. I personally like it a lot, and think it's a lot prettier-looking than "Rain". The first female Sade was, perhaps surprisingly, born before 1900, and after that 62 years went by before the first new Sade was born in 1962. The name is only now gaining popularity, peaking in the 2000's with 142 new Sades. However, time will tell if this becomes a trend name or never really breaks through.

Pyry: I'm struggling to find an exact word; when it's snowing hard, we call that "lumipyry". Only used in connection with snow. The name has been given 2380 men and 11 women. It debuted in the 1920's, simultaneously on men and women, but was always more common as a boy name. The Finnish y-sound isn't the prettiest, but this is still a pretty nice perky male name. I can't see it as a female name. 1053 boys have gotten this name in this decade, including one this year, but it hasn't been given to a girl since 1996. Wikipedia tells me that the name's entry to the name almanac made it a male-only name.

Tuisku: "Blizzard". 122 women, 91 men. It's strange that this word, slightly stronger in meaning than Pyry, is seen as more of a female name. However, the numbers are close. Similar female name Tuija might have affected this. The first female Tuisku was born between 1912, the first male one not until 1958. The situation has evened out in the 2000's, as 58 girls and 47 boys have been given this name. I must admit I like it less than Pyry; -sku is usually a nickname ending (Ansku, Minsku) and doesn't really fit in an official name in my mind. I also think it's more meaning-laden than Pyry. It would be pretty ironic if the child were calm.

Kuura: 9 women, 29 men.
Halla: 40 women.
Both of these names would be "frost" in English. I'd say halla refers more to the coldness, while kuura refers to the white cover on the ground. Kuura strikes me as a pretty ugly name, perhaps because of the closeness with "kura", which refers to dirty water (see below). All of the Kuuras were born between 1980 and 2007, with 16 boys and 7 girls in the 2000's. Which means the name is becoming more popular. Halla, on the other hand, is a clear female name because of closeness to Hilla and Hanna. The name premiered between 1900 and 1919, but by 1980, there were still less than then Hallas. It's only now becoming more popular with 23 new Hallas in this decade, including one this year already. I must admit I like this name, despite the cold meaning. It has a pleasant form.

Myrsky: "Storm". 59 men and 9 women. This name premiered as a male name in 1900-19, but all 4 men who got it between those years are probably dead by now. After 1915, there was a long break without any Myrskys, until 1983 when another boy was given this name. 49 boys and 6 girls have been given this name in the 2000's. I think some people find this name poetic and beautiful, but I must say the two y's, the fairly negative connotations and the closeness to myrkky, "poison", is enough to deter me. I would never use it.

Pouta: "sunny, warm weather". 7 women. A relatively new and unknown name that I found through testing weather names on the name search engine. The name premiered in 1940-59, and 4 new Poutas in the 2000's point to a possible rise in the name. But with less than ten people so far, you can't really talk about a trend name. I don't feel very strongly either way about this one; the connotations are positive but not overbearing, and the form is not particularly pretty or ugly to my eyes. Could it be that indifference toward a name is more of a killer than strong negative connotations?

Kura: dirty water in a puddle. 1 man, born between 1960-79. And - what? You want to name your son after sludge? It can also be a euphemism for shit. Lovely, lovely meanings. I see on Wikipedia that it's a river in Turkey, so maybe that's the origin. I can't imagine anyone using Kura in a Finnish meaning - it just sounds dirty.

Too literal combinations

Aamu-Aurinko: "Morning-Sun". 2 girls in the 2000's.
"This baby is so happy! She's our morning sun!" This is the ultimate cutesy name that will seem very weird on a grownup.

Aamu-Kaste: "Morning-Dew". 1 girl in the 2000's.
Aamukaste. 2 girls in the 2000's.
It's a pretty, poetic word. Too pretty and poetic for a name. Just Aamu would have been plenty poetic and pretty and fairly rare still, Aamu-Kaste just sounds pretentious. The smush is even worse.

Lumipilvi: "Snowcloud". 1 woman born between 1980 and 99.
I like Lumi and Pilvi separately, but as both of them have a slightly trendy mommy connotation, this combination just shouts, "Aww! our little princess! We love nature names!" It would be a pretty word in a poem, but not as a name.

Lumi-Sade: "Snow-Rain". 1 woman born between 1980 and 99.
When it snows, we call it "lumisade". Way too literal a name, even if I like both words per se.

Poutapilvi: 1 woman, 1980-99.
So it's a cloud that's on the sky when it's sunny. A thin, white cloud that poses no threat of rain. It's a positive word, of course, but as a name... blah. Too long, much p, and too "aren't we unique". No wonder it's only been used once.

Sade-Pilvi, 1 woman, 1980-99.
Sadepilvi: 1 woman, 1960-79.
"Rain-cloud". While I like both Sade and Pilvi separately, I would never use them together. The meaning becomes too obvious and irritating. It's also quite long, especially as a smush.

Raili vs. Riley

2008-02-21T12:49:00.001-08:00

The name Riley doesn't seem particularly pretty, especially on a girl (and even less pretty when spelled Ryleigh or Rylee). Today it suddenly struck me that we have the exact same name in Finnish - only we spell it Raili, and here it's mostly an old lady name. Yes, the final i is a bit shorter, and yes, the R is hard, not a soft R like in English. But still. Riley=Raili.

According to the Finnish name search, the huge Raili decades were 1920-39 (10,886 women) and 1940-59 (10,720). After that, Raili has pretty much dropped into one tenth each new 20 years - 989 in 1960-79, 111 in 1980-99, and 26 so far in the 2000's. Ultimate old lady name. This name has never been given to a male in Finland. I'm not sure why. There's nothing particularly feminine about the name, although perhaps closeness to names like Raija and Raisa, both female, has an effect. My name book Kutsu Vaikka Kukkaseksi reminds me that there are many female names that are similar: Aila, Aili, Maila, Maili. Raila and Raili would follow logically from that. However, it might also be a form of Rachel (-> Raakel), and might have come from the Estonian Rael or Russian Rahel.

Let's see what the Name Voyager has to say about Riley. How has it ranked in the top 1000 of most popular baby names?
Male Riley:
1890's: 283
1900's: 334
1910's: 442
1920's: 470
1950's: 620
1960's: 778
1970's: 781
1980's: 477
1990's: 175
2003: 105
2004: 106
2005: 106
2006: 101

Female Riley:
1990's: 272
2003: 72
2004: 58
2005: 53
2006: 55

Male Rylee
2003: 849
2004: 777
2005: 760
2006: 797

Female Rylee
1990's: 677
2004: 135
2005: 128
2006: 134

Ryleigh (female only):
2003: 479
2006: 328

Riley is actually more popular as a female name now, it seems (and the alternate spellings always have been). However, there are probably still more male Rileys out there.

The meaning of Riley, according to Behind the Name, is:

From a surname which was originally derived from a place name meaning "rye clearing" in Old English.

This serves as an example of two language areas using the same name, but spelling it differently. The meanings may be completely different, and the way of deriving the name might differ, but it's still the same pronunciation.

I realize languages have a finite set of phonemes, but it's still pretty fascinating.

January Names from Tampere: Baby Names

2008-02-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the hiatus. I've had the flu all month and my mind has been too mushy to post coherent stuff. But here we go.

These are the names given to Tampere area children (who belong to the Lutheran church) between the 31st of December and the 3rd of February. I've bolded the most unusual ones.

Girls
Aada Elina
Ada Tua Johanna
Aida Lahja Adolfiina (ultimate grandma name. Lahja means gift.)
Aino Helmi Ilona
Alisa Olivia
Anna Maria
Anna Matilda
Annastiina Maria
Anni Vivika Maria
Aurora Emilia Elisabet (too much in one name)
Celia Sofia
Eerin Elisabet
Eevi Karoliina
Elena Ida Maria
Ella Aino Karoliina
Ella Kaarina
Ella Katriina
Ellen Bettina
Elli-Noora Aleksandra Olivia (you're only allowed to give three names, but I see they got around it with the hyphen. Too much for one name, still.)
Emma Aino Aulikki
Emma Leona
Ester Kanerva (Kanerva means fern. It's in the name almanac and all, just quite unusual.)
Fanni Lumi Inkeri
Fiia Sofia (Fiia soFIA? Seriously?)
Frida Leena Sofia
Helinä Unelma (Unelma means dream and Helinä is like a pretty chiming sound. Or Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. A very frilly name.)
Helmi Lyydia (another ultimate grandma name. Helmi means "pearl" and it's making a comeback as a baby name.)
Hilla Marianne Emilia (again, quite long. It seems that long middle names are in fashion.)
Iida Irene
Iida Salli Sofia
Ilona Aurora
Ilona Elsa Vilhelmiina
Iris Matilda
Jasmiina Sissi Eerika (sissi means guerilla, though I guess it can be a form of Sisko, "sister".)
Jenna Aleksandra
Jenna Tyyni Eloni (Tyyni means calm, a grandma name, but Tyyne is much more common. But Eloni? No idea what that is.)
Julia Aleksandra
Julia Kristiina
Karoliina Ida Emilia
Karoliina Linda-Sofia
Katri Ella Aurora
Katri Ida-Maria
Kerttu Lyydia
Krista Emilia
Laura Emilia
Laura Johanna (I wonder how many young girls in Finland have this exact name. Laura was a huge hit in the 1980's, but I see it's coming back in style.)
Lila Mimosa (Mimosa? Wow, 902 girls have this name. I had no idea.)
Lilja Matilda
Lotta Cecilia
Lumi Eveliina
Marissa Oborhireye Emilia (foreign last name, so this might be common somewhere else. She's the only one in Finland though.)
Matilda Josefiina
Meri Elisbeth
Milja Maria (both pretty, but a weak combination)
Minea Maria Viktoria (might be Russian-influenced, but sounds sort of pretentious.)
Minttu Eveliina (cute, but sounds too childike to me. Minttu means mint.)
Neela Elli Emilia (ugh. ER. All of the names are pretty similar - I see they like "el"s in that family.)
Nella Peppi Matilda
Nenna Lotta (Nenna is way too childish.)
Noora Nuppu Ilona (Nuppu means the bud of a flower.)
Oili Pauliina
Peppi Maaria
Ronja Amanda
Saimi Ilona
Salla Sofia
Sella Ellen Elissa (another "we love el" name.)
Sierra Selena
Siiri Emilia
Silja Lumikukka (Lumikukka means snowflower. Pretty overdone.)
Sofia Maria Matilda
Sonja Eerika
Tea Sofia
Telma Sofia
Tilda Susanna Angerva
Unna Helena
Veera Ester
Venla Emilia
Venla Tuulia

9 Emilias and 9 Sofias in only one month! Talk about trend names. There's this humor song in Finland about "Laura Jenna Ellinoora Alexandra Camilla Jurvanen", and I must say some names in this list reminded me of it. It seems like Aleksandra, Sofia and Emilia have become popular middle names.Long middle names are the norm, sometimes to a point where the names become kind of clunky. The three Ellas prove that this name is now becoming big in Finland, too (it's been an old lady name and is now coming back). Surprisingly many S-names. Names with N - Nella, Neela, Nenna, Unna - seem to be big now. Soft-sounding names, like in my generation with all the Hannas, Sannas and Sallas. Venla, a traditional Finnish name from the classic Seven Brothers, is coming back, probably because of the trendy Veera, Vilma and Viivi.

Boys
Aarni Oiva Aatos (ultimate grandpa name. Aarni and Aatos in the same name? Aatos means thought.)
Aatu Eemeli
Akseli Eevertti (very archaic)
Aleksi Julius
Alvar Elias (again, very archaic)
Arttu Emil
Atte-Oskari (not a good idea to hyphenate - five syllables and will certainly be shortened to just Atte, especially since boys tend to have shorter names.)
Daniel Kristian (Swedish)
Eeli Aukusti (Eeli looks like an unusual form of Elias.)
Eemeli Veikko Tapio
Eetu Ilmari
Eetu Lauri Juhani
Eino Kullervo
Eliel Aarne Armas (it seems like all the old-man names starting with A are coming back. Armas means loved or dear - a pretty sappy name.)
Elis Nino Romeo (Finnish last name. I do hope the father is Italian.)
Emil Adan (A Finnish Aidan? Or a form of Adam?)
Emil Aleksinpoika (Aleksi's son. The "son" and "daughter" formations are legal as middle names. It's always the father's or mother's real name, never something like Addison.)
Heikki (very rare to have only one name)
Hugo Sisu (sisu means guts, or attitude. Also the name of a throat mint.)
Huugo Aaro
Iivari Rolle Ilmari (Iivari and Ilmari in the same name?)
Jali Vilhelmi Uljas (Uljas means gallant. Many old virtue names here.)
Jani Johannes Alexander
Jermu Hermanni (we like erm, I see. Jermu is slang for cigarette, but also has some other meaning I can't think of right now. It looks weird and nicknameish.)
Jimi Joonatan
Joe Julian (very English-influenced. Joel Julius might have been more Finnish.)
Joel Sebastian
Joosa Antton Ilmari (20 boys in Finland called Joosa. Never heard it before.)
Juuso Are Juhani (Are should look funny to English-speakers. Juuso is a nickname of Juhani, actually, so not a particularly good combination.)
Kalle Oskari
Kaspian Kaarle
Kristian Henrik
Lauri Arttu Ilmari
Lauri Elias
Leo Albin and Luukas Antonio (twins)
Louis Mikael
Luka Riku-Pekka (Finnish names usually put the longest name last, so the logic here has been to hyphenate two two-syllabic names into one longer name.)
Martti Ilmari
Martti Mikael
Matias Kimmo Olavi
Max Olli Juhan
Micael Mikko Antero (Oh dear. Not Mikael or Michael, but Micael. Also, Mikko is a form of Michael.)
Mico Veikka (ugh at the c.)
Miikka Juhani
Mika Matias
Miro Eelis Aleksi
Niilo Antti Samuli
Niilo Tapani
Niklas Mikael Juhani
Niklas Valtteri
Noah Eliah (Swedish last name. Noah/Nooa is rare here.)
Oliver Aaron
Oliver Luukas Kristian
Oliver Nestori
Oliver Onni Eemeli
Olli Pekka Mikael
Olli Petteri
Onni Matti Johannes
Onni Toivo Tapani (Onni means luck or happiness.)
Otso Olavi
Oula Jeremias (Oula is a Laplandish name that is unpopular elsewhere in Finland.)
Patrick Andreas (Swedish)
Patrik Aleksi
Pekka Antero
Rasmus Marius
Rasmus Tapani
Remi Erland (an interesting formation, perhaps Swedish)
Sami Otso Sebastian (Otso is an archaic word for bear. It doesn't really fit with the two S names.)
Sampo Pauli Olavi
Samu Onni Matias
Samu Onni Oskari (Samu and Onni in two names, funny coincidence.)
Samu Veikka Kalevi (Veikka was very unpopular until the 2000's. Now suddenly over 1000 new Veikkas have emerged. It might have to do with a Finnish mountain climber, Veikka Gustafsson, who was on the news a lot some years ago.)
Severi Matias
Severi Tapio (I'm baffled at two Severis. It's the ultimate old man name - is this a new trend?)
Sisu Aarne Herman (Another Sisu?!)
Tatu Verneri
Teemu Niilo Daniel
Terho Alvin (only about a hundred Alvins here. I hope it doesn't come from the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks. ..I just realized Terho means acorn. I really hope that wasn't their reasoning with coupling these names.)
Tino Topias (Timo is norm here, but about 2000 Tinos as well. Still rare though.)
Toivo Viljami (Toivo is one of the most common names among old men. But I see it's already making a comeback.It means hope.)
Topias Esa Jasperi
Tuomas Oliver
Tuukka Saku Eemeli (I like Tuukka, I'm glad it's become more common lately.)
Ukko Aulis Artturi (Ukko, old man. What a weird name for a baby boy.)
Valter Harald (Swedish)
Verne Vilhelm (literature fans?)
Vili Aleksanteri
Viljam Eliel

All in all, very tautological. 5 X Oliver, 3 X Olli (Finnish form of Oliver), 5 X Onni, 3 X Niilo, 3 X Emil, 3 X Eemeli (Finnish form of Emil), Elias, Eeli, Eliel, Eetu... The O and E names seem to be big right now. It would seem that while girls are getting named more traditional Finnish names and neo-old old lady names, boys get more international forms of the old names (even if they get their fair share of old man names too). It's strange. Like with girls, there seems to be a tendency to make long clunky formations. When you look at American birth lists, you often get lots of babies with two names, or even just one. Seeing one lone Heikki there seemed pretty refreshing after all the long three-syllabic middle names. Sometimes I feel like Finnish names are unnecessary long. Where do you use all those middle names anyway?

Finnish Meaning Names, Part 1

2008-01-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

I love making lists in my free time. I love making them while making Gallup phone calls too, but it's harder to concentrate then. My ongoing project is a list of fictional characters in North American fiction, which I just restarted in a different way and therefore have no real results of yet. But I do have some Finnish listing interests too. One of them is names with literal meanings. I've scribbled these on countless notebooks and tried to remember as many as I could. I thought it'd be fun to list some by topic and discuss them a bit.

The numbers come from the Finnish census name search, which I recommend, as it gives you the exact number of people in Finland who have/had that as an official name. It includes both living and dead people. I've also consulted Names Used in Finland to see which names are in use (it only lists names, not meanings or amounts, but the list seems comprehensive).

Times of Day

Aamu - "Morning", approximately the same as Dawn in English. A pretty name and very uncommon - only 335 women and, shockingly, 10 men. 271 of the female Aamus were born in this decade, which might have to do with a character named Aamu in a Finnish soap opera. It might also be the reason for my overwhelmingly positive connotation of the name. I always think of a pretty young girl.

Aamunkoi - "Dawn". 1 woman. Actually, this is an archaic word for "dawn" and short for "aamunkoitto". An über-romantic word used in old poetry, it seems dated and weird as a name today. "Koi" means "moth", and probably many modern people hear that meaning when they see this word. I feel sorry for the girl, born in 1990.

Ilta - "Evening". I'm not as crazy about this one as I am about Aamu. I mean, I like evenings better than mornings, but the word isn't as pretty, and it also carries negative connotations. I'm very surprised that Ilta is so much more common than Aamu - 1661 women, although most of them were born before 1940.

Päivä - "Day". A positive name, if a bit less attractive due to the ä's. Considering how much people use the world "day" every day, it's not a very good name choice in my opinion. Imagine hearing your name mentioned so much and not knowing if they mean you. Maybe that's why only 32 women have this exact form. The more common forms:
Päivi - 36,124 women.
Päivikki - 10,562 women and 4 men.
Päiviö - 5057 men and 83 women.
Päivyt - 119 women and 1 man. I've seriously never come across this name before and it sounds really strange. Sounds like a plural (see Kevät).
Päivö - 114 men and 1 woman.
There seems to be some confusion about the gender of the ö-forms, but I think both ä and ö is usually too much, and people start seeing it as unattractive and therefore a male name.
There are also some rather strange less common forms:
Päive - 2 women. Looks and sounds like a mistaken "Päivi". Keep in mind that we pronounce the final -e in Finnish.
Päiviä - 3 women. This means "days" in accusative case, and it's often used as an informal greeting. Seriously!
Päivy - 2 women. Seems like an archaic word for "Päivä", as it's only been given before 1940.
Päivye - 1 woman born between 1900 and 1919. Even weirder than "Päive". The "ye" ending, suggests this might mean "a litter of day puppies" ("pentue" means a litter of puppies).
Päivykkä - 1 woman born between 1960 and 79. This sounds horrible. It's a nickname, obviously, and - somehow brings a strangely sexual connotation. I'm not sure why. Maybe because "pyllykkä" is sometimes used for "butt".

Yö - "Night". Probably one of the ugliest words in Finnish, and therefore not a great name choice. 2 boys have been given this name, both in the 2000's. Tryndee mommeighs, no doubt. Really, I love night time, and the name Night is a guilty pleasure (M. Night Shyamalan, I'm looking at you), but Yö gets no sympathy from me.

Seasons

Kesä - "Summer". It's a positive meaning, and one that means a lot to a lot of Finnish people, since we have such a long winter. You might be surprised to hear the name has only ever been given to 4 women. Is it because of the unattractive ä at the end? Maybe, but there's also another word for summer, a more archaic/poetic one that also looks more attractive:
Suvi - 13,575 women and 1 man.

Kevät - "Spring". Only 13 women, despite the uplifting and feminine symbolism it brings to mind. This might have to do with the form of the word: -t is usually a plural marker in Finnish, even if it's used in a singular word here. I can't think of any popular names that end with -t. V and ä don't look very good together either.

Syksy - "Fall". one man (born between 1960-79). Seriously. Fall is the most depressing season for most people, even more so than the cold winter, because then we at least have snow (even if that's not a given). But the constant rain and increasing darkness? This is a season Finns love to hate, and no wonder it hasn't been given to more people as a name. Another reason might be the ugly y's (the Scandinavian y pronounciation is sort of like "ew" in "new"). Somehow -ksy words please my eye, though, but I can't put my finger on why.

Talvi - "Winter". 14 men and 30 women. My theory is that underneath all the whining about the dark and cold, most Finnish people love winter in some way. It definitely has a more positive connotation than fall. It's a much nicer word than Syksy, though, so maybe that explains the higher popularity (not that 44 people is that popular anyway).

Talvikki - 4645 women, 5 men. At some point, -kki names (Kyllikki, Mielikki, Nyyrikki, Lemmikki, etc.) were all the rage. -kki names are almost always female, and perhaps this was the reason that this form was preferred; it seems more gender-specific and fitting for a little girl. A friend of mine has this as a middle name. She hates it.

Time in General

Aika - "Time". 1 woman. I don't know what to say about this. The names Aila, Aija and Aina are in use as female names, so maybe that explains why someone can be Aika too. But the meaning - again, like Päivä, it's a bit too literal and might cause complications. It's not a bad word, but I wonder if she gets a lot of "Where does that come from" and "What's your real name?"

Too literal combinations

Ilta-Päivikki: "Afternoon..kki". 1 woman.
This is..weird. Iltapäivä means afternoon. You want to name your kid afternoon? Somehow it strikes me as weirder than "day" or "evening" or even "night". Afternoon is a much narrower term for a couple of hours during the day. It doesn't warrant its own name.

"Summer-Day" in four different ways:
Suvi-Päivikki: 195 women (including 2 in this decade).
Suvi-Päivi: 65 women.
Suvipäivi: 1 woman.
Kesä-Päivi: 1 woman.
I understand why this is so popular - it is, after all, a beautiful connotation. It's interesting to note that the two first variants are more common than just "Päivä".

Suvi-Ilta: "Summer-Evening". 1 woman.
Apparently summer days are much more poetic than summer evenings. Suvi-Ilta is difficult to pronounce though, with the double i. I'm guessing she goes by either Suvi or Ilta.

Suvi-Talvikki: "Summer-Winter..kki". 2 women.
Two things:
a) I know seasons don't cancel each other out or anything, but this name still seems like an oxymoron.
b) hyphenated names with five syllables will almost always fall out of use after the child becomes a toddler, and I'm quite sure these women both go by Suvi.

The December List of Tampere Names

2008-01-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

So these are the names from the Lutheran church paper from December 2008. The dead have their ages here, so I've included those in brackets. I've taken out the last names for privacy reasons, so these are all first&middle names.

Baptised
Female
Aada Laila Maria
Aino Anniina
Alexa Johanna
Alina Kiana
Amélia Sylviane Helena
Anna Ilona
Anni Ester
Anni Eveliina
Anni Orvokki
Eleonora Alexandra
Elisabet Anneli
Elli Aada Olivia
Emilia Aurora
Emilia Margareth
Emma Lynn
Emma Sofia
Helena Mirjami
Hertta Betty Aurora
Iida Kaarin Maria
Iida Maria
Iiris Ida Aliina
Ilna Linnea
Jenna Johanna Juliaana
Jenna Katariina Natalia
Jessica Johanna Karoliina
Julia Alexandra
Kaisa Iita Ilona
Karoliina Henriikka
Kerttu-Kaneli Mikontytär
Kiia Emilia
Kira Kristiina
Kiti Alexandra
Lilja Irene Orvokki
Lily Oliana
Lotta Greta Marjatta
Matilda Kristiina
Meri-Irinja Kaarina
Mila Krista Inkeri
Mila Maria Alexsandra
Mirella Emma Ilona
Mirella Senja Sofia
Neea Maria
Neela Martta Marinka
Netta Liina
Nia-Emilia Josefina
Ottilia Aila Irene
Peppi Iida Elviina
Piitu Milja Maria
Rilla Ruusu Maaria
Ronja Karoliina
Saana Aurora
Saara Sanni Sofia
Stella Loviisa
Vilma Sofia
Virma Saimi

Male
Aapeli August Aleksi
Aatu Viljami
Aleksi Micael
Arttu Anton
Eelis Eino Alfred
Eero Topias
Eetu Elias
Eetu Heimo Johannes
Eino Mikael
Eino Olavi
Eko Kane
Ilari Niilo Nikolai
Ilmari Aarre Juhani
Jari Aarre
Jasper Johannes
Jero Petteri
Joa Tuomas Johannes
Jonni Markku Aleksi
Joona Matti
Joonas Oiva Juhani
Juho Eino Johannes
Juho Pekka Aleksi
Kalle Erkki Samuli
Kosti Valtteri
Kristian Valdemar
Lauri Valtteri
Leevi Joonatan
Lukas Kristian
Markus Anton
Milo Toivo Daniel
Miro Markus Cristian
Nico Patrik
Niila Joonatan
Niilo Markus Viljami
Niki Aleksis
Niklas Juhana
Niko Joakim
Oiva Unto Ilmari
Ossi Oskari
Otso Yrjänä
Otto Ronnie
Oula Rainer
Patrik Valto
Peetu Matias Petteri
Pietari Ukko Väinämö
Pietu Julius Jukanpoika
Rasmus Mikael
Rasmus Santeri
Roope Einari
Roope Juhani
Teemu Tuomas Johannes
Thomas Joonatan
Tuomas Pekka Aapeli
Veeti Aapeli
Veeti Valtteri
Vilho Herman Johannes

Announced to be married (male-female)
Atte Juhani and Susanna Piia Sisko
Jari Paavo and Carita Hannele
Juha Mikael and Pia Kaarina
Jukka Pekka and Terhi Kristiina
Pekka Tapani and Outi Maria
Toni Juhani and Terhi Anneli
Tuomas Vesa-Matti and Mari Tuulia
Ville-Matti and Tuija Karoliina

Dead
Female
Anna Kaarina (84)
Anna-Liisa (73)
Aura Katri (86)
Elli Lemmikki (90)
Elli Maria (87)
Gudrun Lucia (91)
Ida (92)
Impi Irene (95)
Irja Annikki (91)
Jenny Sofia (96)
Kyllikki Kaarina (85)
Lea Elisa (87)
Maija-Liisa (89)
Maria (94)
Marja Hannele (58 )
Marja-Liisa (64)
Meri Elisabet (90)
Mirja Salme Orvokki (78 )
Raili Marjatta (67)
Raili Tellervo (77)
Rauha Esteri (79)
Ritva Marjatta (66)
Rosa (92)
Sirkka (93)
Sirkka Liisa (81)
Terttu Kristiina (49)
Toini Mirjami (85)

Male
Anssi Olavi (69)
Eero Johannes (71)
Erkki Eelis Vihtori (67)
Erkki Einari (59)
Esko Pietari (91)
Harri Juhani (48 )
Jari Johannes (42)
Jorma Eino Kalervo (58 )
Jukka Mauno Ensio (61)
Martti Kalervo (52)
Mauri Juhani (54)
Paavo Olavi (84)
Pertti (69)
Reijo Lasse (55)
Reino (76)
Risto Johannes (79)
Seppo Antero (53)
Seppo Ilmari (63)
Timo Juhani (66)
Timo Uolevi (49)
Toivo (91)
Unto Armas (71)
Veli Matti (44)

On Request: The Name Aino

2008-01-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

Aino escaping from her old suitor, Väinämöinen, in a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

Another comment, another request. I'm glad to see people are interested in Finnish names, so keep them coming!

Aino is one of the few originally Finnish names. It was coined by Elias Lönnrot, the writer of the Kalevala, from the word "ainoa", "only". The character Aino was the only daughter of the family, and Lönnrot shortened it to "Aino tyttö", "onl(y) girl". The "ai" is pronounced like in Maia. It soon became very popular, and was the very first name to be in the Finnish name calendar in 1890. It has a great significance as a very Finnish name, and has been given to 65,067 women and 73 men. However, it soon became a women-only name and is no longer legal as a male name. Likers of the name who have sons can go for the male name Eino.

1900-19 saw 19,036 new Ainos, which might not be surprising, as Finnish people were becoming more interested in Finnish names then, and Finland became independent in 1917. It was still almost as popular in the next two decades, as 18,661 women got this name during 1920-1939. After that, it rapidly fell, and the lowest point was between 1960 and 1979 when less than 2000 women got the name. However, there was a revival in the 1990's, and lots of little girls now have the name Aino. 736 new Ainos were born last year. It's one of those neo-old names that have lots of very old and very young bearers, but not that many in between (much like Ida and Ada).

I don't personally know anyone by this name, as I happen to be born in the time of the great Aino drought, so to speak. I have seen/heard of many younger girls named Aino though. It's one of my favorites among Finnish female names. Even if there is the final -o, which usually doesn't do a female name any favors, the Ai- somehow keeps the name feminine and fresh. There are some poetic connotations, which probably have to do with the Kalevala. I would consider this name for a daughter.

Similar, but less popular names include Aina (which takes the literal meaning "always"), Aini and Ainikki. Aina has 12,006 female and 2 male bearers (one strangely from 1960-79), Aini only 7195 women and Ainikki, as the least popular, a measly 618. These names might or might not be related to Aino, but they also bear resemblance to Anna, Anni, and Annikki, all much more popular.

December 31st: Sylvester, Sylvesteri, Silvo

2008-01-02T04:18:00.000-08:00

Such weird names. You almost never hear of a Finnish person called Sylvesteri (only 98 people ever have gotten that name, maybe 50 of whom are still alive). Sylvester, on the other hand, has been given to a whopping 1069 people, 25 of which are women. If we assume that everyone born in the 1800's and 1900-19 are dead by now, we get 610 male Sylvesters and no female ones. Not exactly the most common name in Finland.

The reason the almanac celebrates this rare name? Pope Sylvester I died on December 31st, somewhere in the 300's. Seriously. Considering that Finland is not a Catholic country and the Orthodoxes have their own almanac, maybe we could just drop this one.

The meaning of Sylvester comes from Latin, "dwelling in the woods". A pretty fitting meanig for old time Finnish people, but that hasn't made it popular. It just doesn't sound very good in Finnish because of the Y sound (kinda like in New York, but more nasally). The best-known usage - besides the person in the picture - is the cartoon Tipi ja Sylvesteri, about the cat Sylvester who's always trying to kill Tweety bird. Even this hasn't gotten Finnish people to name their children Sylvesteri. We just plain don't like the name.

Silvo is apparently the Finnish form, and this is even more rare, 225 men and 5 women. 7 boys have gotten the name Silvo in the 2000's, while 74 have gotten Sylvester. Actually, that might mean Sylvester is on an all-time rise among Finns. Due to the three-syllabic structure, however, I think this name is doomed to be in the middle slot with some shorter and more boyish name in front.

December 29th: Rauha

2007-12-30T16:41:00.001-08:00

I'm about a month behind with the calendar name entries. I guess I have to discontinue that tradition and start again with the "posting whatever pops into my head", because I can't stick to any daily posts. I just stop posting altogether and the blog whithers and dies, and I like this blog. But just to get back on the horse, another calendar name.

However, today's calendar name is Rauha. It's a female name, meaning "Peace", and it's one of the virtue names that were very popular in the beginning of the 1900's. It peaked in 1900-19 with 7387 women and 7 men, and even in 1920-1939 it was given to 6700 women (but only one man). Unsurprisingly, it took a plunge after that, but it's been given to 150 girls in the 2000's, so maybe it's having a kind of revival. It's a great meaning, but not one of my favorite names by any means. The au doesn't do much for me, and it sounds very archaic. There's a Finnish city named Rauma, which might affect my connotation. I just think of rocks or a fortress, something solid and very un-feminine. It's disturbing.

Maybe it has more to do with how commonly used this name is, especially in religious texts.

A Relative Name Rant

2007-12-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

So. Someone I know has recently had a daughter, and they went with the name Iina. I'm disappointed. I'll tell them it's a cute name, etc., because I think it would be incredibly rude to show my disappointment over something that really isn't any of my business. But I will voice my discontent here where my name and family connections cannot be recognized.

It's not the most terrible name in the world. It just sounds like "little girl born after 1990", much like Roosa or Iida. It's a trend name, it's a time stamp name. Even if Iida is more popular though, I would have preferred it. There must be something I intensely dislike about Iina.

Three reasons why I don't like the name:
1. I think Iina sounds incomplete. The names Tiina, Niina, Miina and Liina are all more common, and this child will probably have to say "no, just Iina" a whole lot. All of the other names sound better than just Iina (though I'll admit I'm not a big fan of Miina).

2. It sounds weak. It has en "ee" sound, n and a, but nothing to support the ee, to keep it grounded like a T, L, M, N, or why not S, R or K (even if those aren't used) could do. I like names like Anna, Hanna and Oona, but Iina sounds to me like "weak little girl who needs protection". Actually, maybe it's only because consonant+iina- names are more common. But I'm not going to go back and integrate this with point 1, because I'm ranting.

3. Her middle name is Johanna, and not only does it rhyme with Iina, but it's the second most common middle name in Finland (after Maria). Disappointingly unimaginative.

So I dunno. I would have preferred Iida, or Oona, or Liina. They would all have sounded like cute little girl's names, but at the same time like names that are good on a grown woman. But Iina sounds like it will be unbearably cute now and unbearably weak later.

If Iina were a really unusual name choice, or a neo-old name that was last popular in the 1900's, I might look upon it more favorably. But she joins 190 other little Iinas born this year, 4670 Iinas altogether, and the name peaked first after 1980, so that adds to my irritation. It seems like a rising trend (likely with the trend names Iida and Oona).

I guess this is the down side of being a name buff. Really, almost any name might have given me this reaction. I have these names I really like - Milja, Silja, Emilia, Aamu, Tuuli, Pilvi, Meri - that I always wish people would use, and they usually don't (OK, Emilia is so common among little girls now that it's becoming very blah for people, but I still love it and it's not common in my family). Maybe I need to expand my horizons.

I know that in a few years it will seem like THE name for her, the only possible name - that happened with a few children I knew (Olga, Matilda). Probably the names that wow me sound dull to someone else and would disappoint others too. Probably any name disappoints, because there are just too many good names to choose from and you can only have one first name.

But you never really forget that first gut reaction you get to hearing the baby's name for the first time. And this is mine.

November 26th -28th: Sisko, Hilkka, Heini

2007-12-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

Sisko is a female name, despite the final o. It means "sister". It's a cute name because of the meaning, and I've always liked it. 29,490 Siskos all in all, none male. It peaked in 1940-59, and almost half of all Siskos (13,900) are from that decade. 349 new Siskos have been born in the 2000's, which means the name is fairly unpopular at the moment.

Hilkka is a kind of hat or hood; Little Red Riding Hood is called Pieni Punahilkka in Finnish. My name book, Kutsu vaikka kukkaseksi, argues that writer Jalmari Finne coined the name for her sister Hilja, who liked to play Little Red Riding Hood. The name was in use before this - 1920's - albeit not very common. However, there was a marked increase in the early 1900's, so it can't be all due to Finne that it became so popular. 30,153 Hilkkas, all in all. There are two peaks in 1920-1939 (14,553) and 1940-1959 (10,685). Two men have also gotten the name, which might be explained with the similar male name Ilkka. Only 147 new Hilkkas in this decade.

Heini is close to the Finnish word for hay, "heinä". The name book lists another name, Heinikki, which didn't make it to the calendar. Only 3775 female Heinis, but surprisingly also 20 male Heinis. The similarity to the male name Heino might explain this. 2297 out of 3775 female Heinis were born between 1980 and 1999. 326 new Heinis in this decade.

Heini is a pretty name, and it's quite rare. The biggest problem, if I were to name a daughter Heini, would be the similarity with the vastly more popular Heidi. The d and n sounds are so close that it would be bound to cause confusion, which might be the reason for the rather weak popularity of Heini.

Al Coholic

2007-12-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

I love the way Ryan North's mind works.

Poor Al!

On Request: The Name Kalle

2007-12-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Yay, my first comment in this blog! And I got a request for a post! OK, so the history of the name Kalle. Actually, Kalle's name day falls on January 28th, so we're not too far off.

Kalle is the most common Finnish form of Charles, and it's basically the same as Charlie in English. The logic goes thus: Charles -> Karl -> Kaarle -> Kalle. It has been in use as an official name here since before the 1900's. According to my name book Kutsu Vaikka Kukkaseksi, the original form of Kalle is the Germanic Karel, meaning a "free man with his own house", and the author says it might have been used as a class signifier in old times. Karl is the Nordic form which brought on the Finnish Kaarle or Kaarlo.

I think we got Kalle from Sweden, where it's a form of Carl and an often-used nickname for the king Carl Gustaf. It also seems to be popular in Swedish comic translations, because Donald Duck is Kalle Anka, while Calvin&Hobbes is Kalle och Hobbe. The a sounds like in "father", but shorter. The final sound is a short e sound like in "ten".

The use of this as a female name piqued my interest. I've never heard it used on a girl in Finland, and sure enough, the name search (link in the sidebar) tells me that while it had a brief period of use on both sexes (very common for old Finnish names), it soon became a male only name, and only 9 women have gotten the name Kalle in Finland, all before 1920. 36,585 men have been given this name, according to the records. It seems to be rising in popularity since the 1980's, and 2794 little boys have gotten the name in 2000-07. My grandfather's father was actually named Kalle, and grandfather's middle name was Kaarlo after him.

Some others forms of Charles in Finland include Kaarlo, Kalevi, Kalervo, Karl or the less common Karo on men and Charlotta, Kaarina, Karin and Karoliina on women. Kalli and Kalla are more recent feminine formations that might have their origins in Kalle. Two boys have also gotten the name Kaarles, which frankly cracked me up. Finnish doesn't have the ch sound, and therefore ch most often becomes K.

In the Finnish popular culture, jokes about "Pikku-Kalle" (Little Kalle) are an old tradition. Pikku-Kalle is basically a little smart alec who often misunderstands what the teacher says or makes deliberate puns on words. Pikku-Kalle jokes are popular among school children, and some of them have been around since my parents' generation. One of the most popular ones is directly related to the name:
Teacher: What's your name?
Ville: Ville.
Teacher: But it says here that it is Viljami. Children, no nicknames please, state your full name. And you, son?
Kalle: Uh... Kaljami?

The joke being that kalja means beer, and this form is of course not used as a name here.

So there you have it! If anybody has other requests, let me know.

November 24th: Lempi, Lemmikki, Sivi

2007-11-26T12:44:00.001-08:00

This came up on a picture search on Lempi and pretty much sums up my opinion of the name.

I've been neglecting this blog, so it's time to catch up. Let's start with the 24th and go in order.

Lempi, a very archaic name. It means "love", but in an archaic sense only; in modern Finnish, it means "favorite". Despite the positive meaning, there are no romantic connotations as this name has for long been an old-lady name. The peak was in 1900-19 with over 12,000 of the total of 22,415, which is no surprise. It took a huge drop thereafter and reached an all-time low (45) between 1960-79, and now it's sadly risen. A shocking 145 girls were given this name in the 2000's. Noo! As much I hate Hilma on a little girl, Lempi is even worse. But maybe in ten years, this will seem like a cute little girl name. This used to be a male name, actually, but the census name search only finds 6 male Lempis, so the male tradition mostly dates back to when name registers didn't exist.

Lemmikki, meaning "favorite" in old Finnish and nowadays a word for "pet", also a flower name. Only 1946 women and 11 men show up in the search, so it's not a particularly popular name, perhaps due to the length and the almost too gentle nature of the name. It's sort of sappy. I know people name their kids Precious now, and this is the Finnish equivalent. I think it's mostly been used as a middle name, because that's where long names usually end up.

Sivi was originally "siviä", "chaste". Yeah. Great name choice for your daughter. My mother told me she once met an old woman called Aina Siviä (always chaste). Her father had told her, "Be worthy of your name!" She bragged that she had been, but Mom said she told the dirtiest jokes and cackled horribly at them. My name book tells me that Sivi and Siviä have been influenced by the Swedish name Siv, so maybe that's a bit better. Even Siv sounds old to me though.

Fairly uncommon names: only 138 Sivis, all female, 19 born in the 2000s. Surprisingly, it peaked in 1980-99 with 58. With Siviä, the peak was in 1900-19, and it's been considerably more popular, with 12,047 women and 2 men. 58 new Siviäs this decade, compared to the same 58 in the previous 20 years... Oh no, is this rising too?

I'm not a big fan of the virtue names, and it's not only because of the old-lady connotation, it's because the virtues are most often related to ideals about women. Tyyne (calm), Hilja (quiet), Rauha (peace), while the male virtue names reflect power and energy: Taisto (battle), Voitto (victory), Tarmo (industriousness). It's pretty sad that some of these are coming back; it seems like modern baby-namers aren't thinking of what kind of ideal burden it puts on the child.

On the Calendar Today (And Yesterday): Ismo, Silja, Selja

2007-11-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ismo is, according to the name calendar book, a Finnish form of Ismael. This really surprised me. Ismo is such a regular Finnish male name, and it reminds me of a middle-aged Finnish man who "neither speaks nor kisses", like we say when a man is very traditionally quiet adn doesn't show his emotions. The book has "God hears" as the meaning of the name. Not who He hears or what He hears, so it's slightly incomplete in my opinion. Ismael was the son of Abraham and his slave, who, according to a legend, acted as the forefather of the Arabic tribe.

8421 Ismos all in all, not all that common a name. The peak was in my generation, 1960-79, which surprises me as I see it as a middle-aged man's name. A big drop thereafter. 72 new Ismos this year. The first boy to receive the name was born in 1916. Looking up Ismael, it was never very popular in Finland with 196 men in total, but it seems to have become even less popular after Ismo came up. Ismael sounds hopelessly old-fashioned and Biblical to me, but 16 boys have gotten the name in the 2000's (it might be immigrants though). None this year.

November 22nd is reserved for Silja and Selja.

Silja (pronounced (Silya) is one of my favorite female names - calm, elegant yet not too frilly. It's an old form of Cecilia (or the church music saint Cecilla, according to the name book), and it has a long history in Finland. Recently it has become a big fad name (along with Milja) for babies. 6189 Siljas all in all, with the peaks in 1940-59 - which surprised me, since I associate this with younger girls - and 2000's. 1191 new Siljas just in the 2000's.

Actually, the 1940-59 peak might be explained by the 1939 Nobel prize that author F.E. Sillanpää got for his novel Silja, nuorena nukkunut (Silja, who slept [died] young). I read the book in high school and it made a strong impression on me. There's a strong patriotic feel to the name, probably because of this connotation.

Selja is a kind of berry. As a name, it's probably derived from Cecilia-> Silja rather than from the meaning. Only 458 women have ever gotten the first name Selja, 90 of them during this decade. Since the previous peak was in 1980-99 at 95, this means that Selja is probably becoming more popular than ever. It's a pretty name when you think about it, but I must admit it sounds too much like the old-lady-name Senja to really look good to me. It doesn't help that I've never met anyone with this name.

Selja also has a literary connotation in Finland. The book series Seljan tyttäret (Selja's daughters) is a Finnish girl book classic. It came before my time and the trend apparently died out in the generation just before me, so I've never read it. It's a positive connotation though, as I love girl books. The author has listed L.M. Montgomery as an influence.

In the Calendar Today: Hilma

2007-11-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hilma Kylliäinen, born in 1885.

Hilma is an amusing name for me. It immediately brings to mind a big country house in the 1930's or 40's and a young servant girl who gets up early in the morning to milk the cows. In other words, it's the ultimate old lady name here, and one with a countryside vibe at that. The Eastern Finlander would say "Hilima", which makes it sound even more dated and uneducated. Sure enough, the name peaked before 1900, and there was a huge drop even in 1920's and 30's, so the majority of Hilmas would be in their eighties or over. Sadly, it seems to be on the rise with 451 new Hilmas only in the 2000's (compared with 272 between 1980 and 99). I know old lady names have a lifespan that tends to rise when the older generation is dying out, but not this name, please! I'd never be able to take a young Hilma seriously. Do a Hilma picture search on Google and you get basically nothing but ancient photos and dogs.

My trusty name book tells me Hilma comes from German Helma or Hilma, which are forms of Wilhelmina, Wilhelma, or Helmgund. These names contain the word helm, helmet, which is an important part of German names. So Hilma basically means "helmet". That amuses me to no end. Apparently the name Hilma has appeared in Ossianin Laulut by Sakari Topelius, a Finnish poet who was very influential and apparently also gave us some other names.

In the Calendar Today: Jari, Jalmari

2007-11-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

Jalmari, an old Finnish male name, and according to the name calendar book Kutsu vaikka kukkaseksi, it's derived from the ancient Scandinavian name Hjalmar, which means "a soldier with a helmet on his head". In my mind, however, Jalmari means "older Finnish man with a flannel shirt, floppy trousers, and suspenders". Surprisingly enough, it seems to have been pretty popular in the 1960's and 70's. It also seems to be rising in popularity, with 1728 people named Jalmari in the 2000's. I can't say I've known any Jalmaris under age 50.

Hjalmar is also in use in Finland, with 4150 male and 3 female bearers. It's dropped hugely in popularity after Jalmari came along, and at least 3000 of the men are bound to be dead by now, as well as all of the women.

Jari was, according to my name calendar book, coined by writer Jalmari Finne for his godson. However, the name search proves this theory to be incorrect. Sure enough, the first official Jari was born between 1920 and 39. But when you search for the individual year the name was given, it is not 1937, nor 1938 or 1936. It is 1920, seventeen years before this alleged coinage. Interesting.

Now, I assume the godson was christened Jalmari or something similar, and this was simply the first time the nickname Jari got wider attention. Sure enough, after 1939, more Jaris rapidly started to appear. But somewhere in 1937, there was a 17-year-old boy named Jari with a completely unique name, and apparently writers of name books had no idea about that.

45,929 boys all in all have gotten the name Jari. In the 2000s, the name has been given to 321 boys, and it looks like the name is becoming less popular than it was before - hardly surprising as the highpoint was in 1960-79, a generation of men who are now becoming fathers. Incidentally, this is my generation, and I remember having several Jaris in my class in all grades. Therefore, my impression of Jari is a non-impression: typical male name, nothing special.

In the Calendar Today: Elisabet in All Its Forms

2007-11-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

This is one name that needs no introduction to the English-speaking world, but let's take a look at the Finnish shortened forms of Elizabeth, or like we say around here, Elisabet.

Liisa - A very basic Finnish name that has been used here for a long time. Pronounced similarly to Lisa, perhaps more like Leesa, with emphasis on the long ee sound. It's most common among middle-aged women but also used on young girls. I had a friend named Liisa at school, and my grandfather's first wife was named Anna-Liisa. Alice in Wonderland was translated into Liisa Ihmemaassa here, which has probably added to the popularity. The connection is Alice -> Alicia -> Aliisa, so maybe Liisa has debt to that name also. Probably because of Alice in Wonderland, I loved the name at age six and wanted to name our baby that, but he turned out to be a boy.

100,509 women in Finland have had this name, and 3 men have also been given it. By Finnish standards, it's an extremely popular name, and alone it ranks as the 8th most popular female name in Finland. When you add the variants Marja-Liisa (12,501), Maija-Liisa (7543), and Anna-Liisa (18,696), you get 139,522 Liisas, which lifts it as the 5th most popular female name.

Elisa - A fairly common form, often used on younger women. This is my cousin's name. She's 12 and I was 15 when she was born, so she's very much the baby of the family and everyone's pet. Regardless, I still prefer the softer Elina.

20,181 women and 1 man (or should I say boy, as he's born between 2000-06!) have been given this name, including 1566 babies just in this decade. It seems to be becoming a trend.

Elisabet - 53,598 women. Probably most of them Swedish-speakers, but it's not unheard of among Finnish-speakers either, even if it has a slightly "fancy" slant, and might be considered as an attempt to be richer and more upper-class than you really are. In the old days, Finland used the same system as English-speaking countries still do: if you're going to call the child Liisa, you officially name her Elisabet, even if this name is never used. This might explain why the name has been so common, even if I don't recall hearing of many Elisabets.

Eliisa - I would have said an unusual and slightly silly-sounding form, but apparently 11,564 women have this name. So it's more common than Maija-Liisa, which shocks me. I've known more Maija-Liisas than Eliisas. Eliisa speaks of the Swedish pronounciation where short vowels tend to become lengthened: Malin is Mahlin, Jonas is You-nas in Swedish. Similarly, Elisabet has become Eleesabet, making Eliisa and Liisa logical nicknames.

Liisi - considering the high popularity of Liisa, it might be surprising that only 2009 women have ever been given this as a first name. It might in fact be in the calendar only as an add-on to Liisa. Most -i ending girl names sound like little children's names, even if some of them (Anni, Viivi) have become very common among babies now, so they might become more dated middle-aged lady names later. Liisi's popularity seems to be growing, as 86 girls have been given this name in the 2000s.

In addition, the spelling Lisa has 2504 female and one (probably dead) male bearers in Finland, while Elizabeth has 1046 female and 1 (sadly young) male bearers. These might be immigrants, children of immigrants or simply people who wanted to be a bit more international (even if that is usually frowned upon here if you don't have roots abroad).

These are basically the only forms of Elisabet used in Finland. Even if the name search gives me some results with all variants (5 Besses, 27 Beths, 29 Lizes, an amazing 699 Bettys), they're not something you bump into often, and are probably mostly used among immigrants or the Swedish-speaking minority. Amusingly, the name Petti has been given to 11 women. It's the past tense of "pettää", "to betray", and I can only explain it as a Finnishized, if rare and rather amusing version of Betty. The last Petti was born between 1980 and 99, surprisingly late.

In the Calendar Today: Tenho, Jousia

2007-11-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

The Finnish calendar has a name for each day, which I may or may not have mentioned before. The name calendar gives name ideas to parents, shows which names have legitimate status (even if it doesn't include ALL legit names), and gives you an excuse to celebrate a rather pointless but cute "name day" (when you get a cake and a present, even if it's nothing like a birthday). I thought it'd be interesting to go through some of these names based on what day it is.

Today's calendar names are Tenho and Jousia.

Tenho is an archaic Finnish word for "charm", and perhaps surprisingly, it's a male name (which might have more to do with the written form with -o in the end). It has been in use since the 1800's. I knew a boy named this in elementary school. I had a bit of a crush on him. A very positive connotation, but not a name you see used very often. Which is why I'm surprised that there are a whole 3225 male and two female Tenhos. Granted, at least 182 of these have probably died by now, but that still leaves over 3000 Tenhos, which is not bad. 82 boys have been given this name in the 2000's, including 12 just this year. Hardly one of the biggest names, but I wouldn't have expected to see even that many.

Jousia is even more archaic, and I've never met anyone by this name. Despite the final -a, it's a male name (not uncommon in Finland). My brother wants to name a future son this, and I'm hoping he won't because there is a very close and less silly-sounding male name, Jouni, available. Some problems with this name: "Jousi" means bow, and "jousia" can be a plural accusative case, e.g. "I went out to buy some bows". "Jousiammunta" means archery.

Kutsu Vaikka Kukkaseksi, a name book that focuses on calendar names, tells me that Jousia is actually a medieval name, and the only one left of a tradition of -ia ending male names. It was introduced into the almanac in 1929. In the Finnish Census Name Search, there are only 143 Jousias, one female, and it's possible that six of the men and the female are dead (born between 1920 and 39). 16 boys have been given this name between 2000 and 2007. Which is actually more than Tenho. Strangely enough, the name search finds no Jousias before 1900, which might be because they didn't do a lot of name statistics in the medieval times. Maybe it's one of those names that were kind of re-introduced as "traditional names" at some point.

Maybe I should do yesterday's names too while I'm at it.
November 17th we have Eino and Einari. The "ei" is pronounced like in "way".

Kutsu Vaikka Kukkaseksi tells me Eino is derived from the German Enewald, which in turn is derived from the more ancient Aginwald, which means "rules with a sword". Eino was super-popular in the early 1900's and until the 1940's, when it suffered a considerable drop thereafter, which is probably why it still sounds like an old man's name to me. However, it's been fairly popular throughout all documented decades, because there have been about 1900 new Einos every twenty years. It seems to be rising as the older Einos die out, as 1700 boys have gotten this name only in the last seven years! All in all, there have been 58,555 male Einos and 7 female Einos (but it clearly the became a male-only name fairly early on as the last documented female Eino was born in 1923).

Einari is, according to said book, not a longer form of Eino but in fact a Finnish form of the Nordic name Einar, "fighting in the troups". It seems more archaic, but has actually been less popular before and is on the rise right now. 20,166 all in all, 852 on this decade, 2432 in 1980-99. Seems to be on the rise. I think there's a certain quaint quality to Einari, even if it sounds like an old man with a long beard to me. No girl was ever given the name Einari, thank God. There was a contestant on Big Brother 2007 named Einari. He was 18 and a real weirdo.

The funny thing about Eino is that it contains the Finnish word for no, "ei", as well as the English "no". I had no idea those names were so war-like. They sound quite calm and kind to me, especially the jovial Einari. I have a relative called Eino who is a calm, quiet man, and my grandfather had a brother by that name.

Bucket, Pronounced Bouquet

2007-11-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

On the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, we meet Hyacinth Bucket (in the picture). She's not upper class, really, but she wants to be, and does her best to appear so. She has candlelight suppers, inviting everyone she thinks is someone (and they all hate her); she goes yachting to show off to her neighbors, and so forth. She talks in a fancier accent than her family and says everything in a high sing-song voice. And her name? Is pronounced bouquet. Hyacinth Bouquet. Actually, I didn't even realize the connection with flower bouquets until I looked up "Hyacinth Bouquet" on Google and got a bunch of floral arrangements.

The floral theme is strong on the show. Hyacinth's three sisters are called Daisy, Rose, and Violet. Daisy is the plain, common one, who's married a very plain and common man by the name of Onslow. He's a slob who sits on the sofa watching TV all day in his underpants. The name probably reminds Brits of a lower class slob, even if it's hard to say since it's my first encounter with it. Rose is the prettier, slutty one who dresses in tight, too young for her clothes and hits on men left and right. Violet is the only one Hyacinth isn't embarrassed about - she's lucked out and married a rich man, and they have a mansion, a swimming pool and "room for a pony". I love that bit - they don't have a pony, but they could if they wanted to.

Maybe Hyacinth's problem was marrying a man named Richard Bucket. Can you get more plain and amusing than "Bucket"? She hasn't changed it to Bouquet, she just insists it's pronounced that way, which makes everyone else stupid, because they don't know how to pronounce such an obvious name. Her only son she has named Sheridan. It's a last name, it sounds fancy and upper-class, and it goes oh so well with Bouquet, doesn't it? Sheridan Bucket.

This all reminds me of Anne of Avonlea, a much older but similar example. Anne works as a teacher, and one of her students is named Jacob Donnell. One day his mother walks in and announces that her son is to be referred to as Saint Clair, and that Donnell has stress on the last syllable - Donnell, Saint Clair Donnell. Saint Clair was christened Jacob after a friend of the father's, who was unmarried and who they were hoping would leave his namesake some money. But he ended up getting married - the nerve! So the mother decided to use her favorite name instead. Saint Clair's sister's name is, of course, equally frilly: Clarice Almira.

For some reason, this sort of thing amuses me a lot. Names are identity markers, but they can also be used to hide your true self that you're ashamed of, and introduce a new, fancier self. It's similar to the phenomenon of poor American people naming their children L'Oreal and Ferrari. If the name is fancy enough, it's bound to lift you out of your common background.

Oh xkcd, How I Love Thee

2007-10-13T11:30:00.001-07:00

You know this day will come.

People are already naming their kids D.shawn and Ja'D or whatever. The computer terms are coming.

I fear the day I meet the first www.emily.com, or maybe just http://zac.
Or how about iPaul? Lime Wirelyn? Gooogle?

Literature Names: The Children of Anne of Green Gables

2007-10-13T08:40:00.001-07:00

I used to love L. M. Montgomery's Anne books as a child, and I still like them (although as a grown up, I much prefer the more mature Emily series). But there are more and more things that start to stand out as weird about them, especially the later books.
One of these things is the way Anne named her children.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the books, or just need a reminder, here's a list of Anne's children and why she named them what she did:

Joyce "Joy" - Anne's first child who died shortly after being born, actually the only example of non-obvious nameage, so not a good thing to start the list with. But you know, she died, so she must have a name that reflects the tragedy. Ironically, Anne mentions that they had so many people to name her after, and couldn't choose between them. They sure could with the later children.

James Matthew "Jem" - James after Captain Jim, an old sea captain Anne was friends with and who died shortly before Jem's birth. Matthew after Anne's adopted father who was the first person to show her affection.

Walter - after Anne's biological father.

Anne "Nan" and Diana "Di" - after Anne herself and her best childhood friend.

Shirley (boy!) - after Anne's maiden name.

Bertha Marilla "Rilla" - after Anne's biological mother Bertha and adopted mother Marilla.

Do you see a pattern here? And do you see a very obvious problem considering this story is set in the early 1900's? Not one of the children is named after their father Gilbert or anyone in his family. It shows the author thought everyone would expect Anne-related names for the children. But six children and not even one named after Gilbert's mother, or grandmother, or whatever. Not even as a middle name! Gilbert has always seemed like a thin character and this only makes it worse. He's basically there to be Anne's husband, that's all, no real personality and no claim for the children either, apparently. I'm no fan of the junior tradition, but in those days, this would have been weird, right?

I can understand Bertha Marilla - that seems like a nice tribute to Anne's mothers - but Anne and Diana for twins? Unimaginative and vain. Ooo, how cute, they'll be best friends, so let's name them after me and my best friend! And of course she goes by Nan to separate from mother Anne, but seriously, it's the same name only with N. I doubt it's a coincidence that the twins are the dullest characters in the later books with no personality to speak of. Montgomery just thought it would be cute to have twins named Anne and Diana for the sake of it. Also, Shirley for a boy? When I was a child, I thought Shirley was a boy's name because of that.

Anne's best friend Diana also named her firstborn Anne - Anne Cordelia, to be exact, because Anne always wanted to be named Cordelia, so that's like honoring her childhood wish of what her name "should" be... Actually, that's a very strange reason to give her child that middle name.

All this is, of course, better than the horrible Elsie books and their naming tradition - every single generation has an Elsie, which has made the name way overrepresented in my name list. But Anne's naming system still bugs, because I think it has a lot more to do with the conventions of the genre than Montgomery's own ideas for the characters. The children aren't supposed to be just an extension of Anne.

A little note on how name perceptions have changed:

She had been named after Aunt Marilla of Green Gables, but Aunt Marilla had died before Rilla was old enough to know her very well, and Rilla detested the name as being horribly old-fashioned and prim. Why couldn't they have called her by her first name, Bertha, which was beautiful and dignified, instead of that silly "Rilla"?
(Rilla of Ingleside)

I adore the name Marilla/Rilla, but of course Bertha has been ruined for most modern people with "Big Bertha" stuff. Interestingly, in the olden days, it has apparently been one of the "pretty names". Anne was happy to find her parents had such beautiful names - Bertha and Walter - and Rilla herself seems to find her first name prettier than the name she is called. It's a shame the name has been ruined for us - it's really not too bad.

TV Names, A Case Study: Emma Geller-Green

2007-10-04T05:53:00.000-07:00

Rachel showing off her bland-named baby.

When Ross and Rachel had a baby on Friends, I followed the name debate episode with interest. It says a lot about naming trends.

Rachel suggests Sandrine, Rain, James (but only for a girl), Dayton, Sawyer.

Ross suggests Darwin, Thatcher, Ruth, Helen, Stewart.

It's easy to see where dinosaur fanatic Ross gets Darwin. Where he gets Ruth or Helen is another matter, since they don't seem to go with the trendier ones. When Ross had his first child in the first season, he vetoed the name Helen, because "Helen Geller?" Good point. So why does he himself offer the name for Emma?

Stewart is a name that always seems to be suggested for baby boys on TV. Usually there's someone who really hates it, and Rachel also vetoes it with disdain. She's also convinced that a boy named Darwin or Thatcher would get beaten up at school, and with Ruth, she asks if they're having an 89-year-old. Ross, on the other hand, thinks Sandrine is a "really pretty name...for an industrial solvent", and sees Rain as a hippie who walks around in clothes made of wheat. James he would have accepted. But not for a girl (good for him!). Both offer their tryndy suggestions with obvious pride and are devastated when the other one doesn't like them. And yeah, good luck getting a Rain or Sandrene on a show that tries to appeal to the lowest common denominator. They're probably too "modern" for that.

In the end, Rachel considered Ruth. But they ditch it when they realize they're going to have their own "Baby Ruth". The Finnish subtitles read "baseball player", but I think they were talking about the chocolate bar. The name-debate file is here, but it's in terrible quality. A shorter clip in better quality here.

How did two such trend-namers end up with Emma then? Well, believe it or not, when Rachel gives birth, they've got absolutely nothing. Until Monica tells her the names she had picked for her children back when she was young: Daniel - and Emma. Apparently Emma wows Rachel, and Monica allows her to name her baby that. Because she likes Emma, "but I like you better."

I just couldn't believe it. Emma? Seriously? I mean, I do like the name, and my parents considered naming me that, so I have some kind of relationship with it. But it's so popular at the moment that I can't imagine it as a name that would wow someone. Also, Monica can hardly claim ownership to the name since there are so many Emmas running around. Also also, if Monica decided on the names back in the 1980's, she probably would have picked something else, like names that were trendy then. Or, you know, something a little distinctive. Maybe it's the fact that Emma wasn't yet so popular though; it just sounds so overused now that it's not as pretty anymore. But there must be some reason why Emma is suddenly so popular in a way it wasn't in the 1980's, and it must be that same reason that made the writers of the show decide on Emma. Which is why the "I thought of these names 20 years ago" thing sounds a little contrived.

The biggest problem: Emma is only three letters away from Emily, Ross's British ex-wife. Emily as in "I, Ross, take you, Rachel". So many viewers thought of this connection that it's a shame the lazy writers thought they can get away with naming the baby something so close to it. Rachel's self-centered sister Amy, who never gets names right, even confuses Emma with Emily and neither Ross nor Rachel seem to remember Emily the ex. Another time Amy visits, she thinks the name is Ella and, when corrected, is disappointed: "Why'd you change it to Emma? Ella is so much prettier!" Ella is just another equally popular name and almost the same. Personally, I like Emma better. [Note: I have edited the post here, because I originally wrote Ella would have been a vast improvement. That was before Ella became the number one name in Finland and I got really bored with it.]

And don't even get me started about all the TV characters who can't think of any name for their baby until they're in the hospital. Ross's first child Ben was actually named after a janitor (!) who got stuck in the broom closet with him and Susan (!) while Carol was having the baby. Ben died of old age (!) or something so they named the baby after him. OK, that's actually much worse than what happened with Emma. Would you name your child after a random janitor at the hospital?

When Monica and Chandler had their twins through surrogate mother Erica, they decided to name the girl baby after her. The boy they named Jack after Monica's father. You gotta wonder why they didn't use Daniel if Monica's so fond of it. Erica and Daniel would have been close to Emma and Daniel. Many viewers also pointed out that Jewish families don't tend to give jr names after living relatives, and found it weird that Monica would want to name the baby after her father.

Is it just me or does it seem like the writers don't even consider the baby name choices? OK, it's a fictional character, and you can name it anything, but it's still the name the character will have forever in the viewers' minds. Make it matter and make sense. It's not that hard.

Names on Babylon 5

2007-10-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Londo, Jeffrey, and G'Kar - some of the main characters of Babylon 5.

I can't include these in my Fictional Characters Name List (tm), because I'm going by birth year and the show is set in the future. However, as a fan, I'm interested in the naming process of the different races. Here's a very brief overview of the names on the show, comparing the humans and aliens.

Human - Basic classical names, no drastic changes to current name tradition. Telepaths seem to have more unusual names (Lyta, Talia). Weirdly enough, the non-US-ethnicities also have American first names with ethnic last names, perhaps to keep the US viewers happy (J. Michael Straczynski who wrote the show also has an ethnic first name that he hides behind the initial).
Examples: Michael Garibaldi, Susan Ivanova, Jeffrey Sinclair.

Centauri - Centauris are very human-like with human-like names, i.e. last name and first name with similar-to-human patterns, often ending with vowels in the style of European names. The Centauri culture is based on money and family reputation, so the last names are an important status marker.
Examples: Londo Mollari (m), Vir Cotto (m), Adira Tyree (f).

Minbari - The Minbari lifestyle and names carry Asian connotations, at least for me. Minbaris are a peaceful people with a meditative lifestyle. They have only one name, and the names seem similar with lots of soft l, d and n sounds. No particular marker between male and female names.
Examples: Delenn (f), Lennier (m).

Narn - This one's interesting because the three Narn religions determine the beginning of your name (G', Na' or Ta'). The prefix isn't added until they have grown up and decided which religion they choose to follow. The Narns are an oppressed people that has been at war with the Centauri for a long time, and their names sound stern and strong with lots of consonants.
Examples: G'Kar (m), Na'Toth (f), G'Quan (m).

Vorlon - A mysterious race, one of the oldest ones. The Vorlon appears inside a kind of armor, but when it removes it, it appears to everyone as their deity. Speaks in a machine-like voice. No one knows much about the Vorlons, and the name Kosh reflects that.
Examples: Kosh (all Vorlon ambassadors insist on using this same name).

Other:
Lorien - one of the "first ones" who created the universe; timeless and slightly frightening but benign being. The name reminds me of "luminous", but also sounds like a fantasy name (Tolkien?).

Draal - keeper of the Great Machine that governs time and events. Hooked up to the machine but can astrally project to the world below. Benign. Sounds to me vaguely like a Jewish idol from the Bible (Baal?)

Zathras - a servant of Draal, a troll-like being. Has a lisp and refers to himself in the third person, making a rather humorous way of speech "Zathrash this and Zathrash that". Traveled to the past and was replaced by another one of his kind who, like the Vorlons, insisted that "we are all Zathrash."

Nea the Nerd Started a Trend?

2007-10-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

My best friend had this book when we were about eleven. It starred Nea Kivi, a fat girl with glasses who liked to eat a lot and feel sorry for herself. Her fatness was emphasized so much in the books that it became a joke for us - "Nea Kivi, fatty foureyes" became one of the standard jokes between us. (The joke was mostly that it was so overdone in the books, not that we were against fat girls with glasses, me being one myself.) Neither of us knew anyone named Nea - Lea and Tea, sure (and mostly in the older generations), but never Nea. It seemed like a fantasy name to us, and it came to represent only this one character.

Looking at the names of baptized children I just posted, I realize Nea and Neea are popular names at the moment. I wouldn't have believed it but it's true - 3063 new Neas and 1130 Neeas in just the last seven years! Also, the popularity catapulted from 130 in 1960-79 to 2239 in 1980-99. The first book about Nea Kivi was published in 1989. The name search shows that only 54 girls got the name Nea that year - compared to 250 in 1995, for example.

Could it be that people read the book and picked up the then unusual name?
Could it be that the nerdy Nea Kivi, poorly written stereotypical fat girl, reminded new parents of this admittedly pretty name?

It's so weird to think that a name that was a joke for me for so long is suddenly popular. I guess I have to start taking it seriously.

Finnish Baby Names

2007-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

To give you an idea of Finnish baby names, here are some names given in the Tampere area lately (taken from Kirkkosanomat magazine; these are the baptised children in the city in the last month). As you'll notice, Finnish kids are often three names, and unlike in English, the longest name is usually last. What name the child is called is a different matter altogether; fairly many children are called by their second or third name if it's the one the parents prefer (for example, I knew an Anne Marjut Hannele who was called Hannele).

I've marked the unusual names with *. I omitted the last names, but I must say the foreign and unusual names sometimes sounded very wrong with the basic Finnish last names (try some of these with Kinnunen, Pitkänen, or Vähänen). Also - this is the only Livian in Finland.

Girls:
Aino Lotta
Bettina*Aada Odessa*
Elina Amanda
Elsa Lyn*
Emilia Krista
Enni-Mari* Kristiina
Henni* Ella Juulia
Hilla* Maarit Solina*
Iida Sofia
Iines Olivia
Inka Jasmin Loviisa
Irina Aleksandra
Jasmin Aiko* Sofia
Julia Hanna Maarit
Kaisla* Maaria
Livian* Isabel*
Lotta Maarit
Maia Sinikka
Matleena Hilkka Orvokki
Nea Maria
Neea Emilia
Neela* Ellen Adeliina*
Nella Eveliina
Petra Katariina
Saara Pauliina
Sara Aivi* Susanna
Veera Kristiina Olivia
Veera Susanna
Venla Inkeri

Boys:
Aapo Henri
Aaron Elias
Ahti Joel Julius
Alexandro* Tauno David*
Akseli Frans* Olavi
Akseli Jeremias
Eeli* Aapeli*
Eero Antti Ilmari
Eino Mikael
Elias Mikael
Elliot Aleksander
Ilari* Otto Rafael*
Jaakko Heikki
Jimi Heikki Jannenpoika
Joonas Toivo Tapio
Juho Hermanni
Klaus Daniel
Lassi Weeti* Valtter*
Lauri Ukko-Ilmari*
Leevi Valtteri
Liam* Joseph
Lucas Marcos* Maxin*
Luka* Ukko
Matias Urho Kalevi
Max Simeon
Mikko Kristian
Miko Samuel
Niilas* Artturi
Niklas Kristian
Oskari Olavi
Oskari Tapani
Otto Benjamin*
Rasmus Heikki Einari
Sebastian Patrik
Teemu Samuel
Timi Tuomas Mikael
Valto* Olavi
Viljo Eliel

Finnish vs. American Baby Names 2006

2007-09-24T14:56:00.001-07:00

Just a quick comparison between the top 20's. Unlike in the previous post, I've used the "first names only" statistics, because Finnish children are often given three names, while American children tend to get two, so middle names are probably overrepresented in the Finnish charts. The same names and forms of the same names have been bolded. Is it creepy how Emily, Emma, and Sara(h) are so popular in both cultures? All in all, the Finnish female names seem more similar to the American ones, even if the male names contain more Finnish forms of James, John, William, etc. Male names tend to be more traditional in both cultures.

Girl Names

USA
1. Emily
2. Emma
3. Madison
4. Isabella
5. Ava
6. Abigail
7. Olivia
8. Hannah
9. Sophia
10. Samantha
11. Elizabeth
12. Ashley
13. Mia
14. Alexis
15. Sarah
16. Natalie
17. Grace
18. Chloe
19. Alyssa
20. Brianna

FINLAND
1. Aino
2. Emma
3. Sara
4. Ella
5. Venla
6. Anni
7. Aada
8. Iida
9. Emilia
10. Helmi
11. Siiri
12. Sofia
13. Veera
14. Vilma
15. Nea
16. Julia
17. Milla
18. Viivi
19. Jenna
20. Emmi

BOY NAMES

USA
1. Jacob
2. Michael
3. Joshua
4. Ethan
5. Matthew
6. Daniel
7. Christopher
8. Andrew
9. Anthony
10. William
11. Joseph
12. Alexander
13. David
14. Ryan
15. Noah
16. James
17. Nicholas
18. Tyler
19. Logan
20. John

FINLAND
1. Eetu
2. Veeti
3. Aleksi
4. Elias
5. Joona
6. Onni
7. Arttu
8. Leevi
9. Lauri
10. Juho
11. Matias
12. Ville
13. Aaro
14. Jere
15. Niko
16. Jesse
17. Niklas
18. Rasmus
19. Miro
20. Jimi

Finnish Names Now And Then

2007-09-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

I was born in the year 1979. I thought it might be interesting to compare the most common girl names now and then, but it seems like the Finnish census doesn't offer statistics from individual years in the 70's. Therefore, I'm simply going to compare the ten most common first names for girls and boys in 2006 with how many of them were given in 1979. There are bound to be some interesting differences. The numbers are the number of people the name was given to in each year. Middle names were included in both statistics. If the figures seem small, remember that Finland only has five million inhabitants.

1. Maria
2477 in 2006.
3907 in 1979.

The Finnish form of Mary, the most common Finnish female name in all generations. However, it's almost always a middle name. For 2006, the top 50 of first names only doesn't even contain Maria, even if it was given to so many children. Maria is a very traditional name in Finland, but it's become quite dull for most people. Some Finnish forms include Maaria, Mari, Marja and Marjatta, most common with middle-aged women.

2. Emilia
1883 in 2006.
517 in 1979.

Emilia has risen enormously in recent years - at the same time as Emily, Emilia, Emmelie, etc. have risen in other countries as well. What is it about Emilia that makes it such a big hit? Is it the femininity? The similarity with names like Emma, Julia, and Sofia that are also popular at the moment? Montgomery's Emily books (the source of my undying love for the name)? Some names just become big hits. One thing's for sure, though - there will be a backlash and people will start seeing Emilia as terribly generic and dull sometime soon. This happened to Jenni and Laura in Finland in the 1990's, because so many people discovered them at the same time.

3. Sofia
1755 in 2006.
314 in 1979.

Sofia, like Emilia, has become hugely popular in recent years. Its place as 12th in the first names poll shows that like other three-syllable names, it's most common as a middle name. For some reason, people in the seventies didn't like Sofia much. It's hard to explain name trends. It's always been a name I like, and it still sounds fairly unusual to my ear, because I don't know many Sofias. I'm sure it will sound generic to me as the current children grow, though.

4. Aino
918 in 2006.
115 in 1979.

A name from the Kalevala that rapidly grew in success in the late 90's and early 2000's. The meaning is derived from "Ainoa", "the only one", and apparently it was coined for the Kalevala. It's not restricted to children with no siblings (my aunt was going to name her sixth child that, but opted against it because it was so popular).

5. Olivia
864 in 2006.
11 in 1979.

Olivia is a new fad name in Finland, and I was very surprised to see it on the top ten first time a few years back. It comes from the English name tradition, and even if there's nothing particularly un-Finnish about it, I keep thinking of olive oil every time I hear it. I'm just not used to having it as a name. It sounds greasy. I do like olives, so I don't know why I feel this way. Oliver has also risen in the boy names.

6. Helmi
685 in 2006.
15 in 1979.

Helmi is a neo-old name. It was a definite old lady name when I was a child, and you didn't meet many young girls with this name. Now it's suddenly a huge hit and babies are named Helmi left and right. The name means "pearl", but maybe it looks a bit too much like Elma to really sound like a little girl name to me.

7. Katariina
684 in 2006.
896 in 1979.

The rise of Katariina was constant from the 1960's on, but much calmer than for many other names in the top ten. The reason might be that it's a very common middle name and thus more lasting in its success than first names. In the first names only chart, Katariina is predictably not in the top 50. It is, of course, the Finnish form of Katherine, and there are many variations: Kata, Katri, Katriina, Kati, Riina. Katariina is often associated with the empress Katherine in Finland, because our history books have a tendency to translate the names.

8. Aurora
680 in 2006.
28 in 1979.

Aurora is another huge trend in recent years. 192 in 1960-79, 2622 in 1980-99 and over 4700 in just the last seven years! It sounds more Swedish than Finnish (the spelling "Auroora" has also been used by Finnish-speakers, but like Saara and Juulia, it's becoming shortened - Aurora, Sara, Julia). Aurora is a pretty name that reminds me of a princess, which is why I don't like it that much. it just sounds too pretty, especially coupled with a solid Finnish name like Mäkinen, Virtanen, Lahtinen... It's like taking a fairy and placing it into a modern Finnish kitchen. It just feels off.

9. Ilona
653 in 2006.
190 in 1979.

I had a girl by this name in my class in elementary school, and my connotations of the name are fairly positive. However, I've never met any other Ilonas, and it's seemed like a fairly unusual name to me. The Finnish word ilo, "joy", probably has a lot to do with the popularity of the name. However, it's not where it originally comes from; Ilona is simply the Hungarian form of Helena.

10. Julia
651 in 2006.
94 in 1979.

Julia is one of the fad names of the 90's and 2000's. While only 862 girls got the name Julia between 1960 and 1979, there was an explosion in 1980-99 with 10,064 new Julias. The Finnish form Juulia also had a renaissance - from 140 in 1960-79 to 3037 in 1980-99. However, it's clear that Finns prefer the shorter spellings these days. A pretty name that I used to find bland, but somehow like more these days. Not sure why. Considering its popularity, it should sound blander today.

"Ancestry" Names

2007-09-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Nice new ideas for girl names?

Apparently it's a big hit right now that people name their kids according to their ancestry. I.e., if you're part Welsh, give your child a Welsh name. It seems odd to be honest. Granted, Finland is no melting pot like the US, but you can still have roots in other countries. Both of my parents are Finnish, but their parents descend from Sweden and Germany on my father's side and Lapland on my mother's side. So should I go and name my (nonexistant) son Rüdiger, or Åke, or Aslak?

No, I would not do that.
Because
a) Most people, and in the case of Rüdiger, the child himself, wouldn't know how to spell or pronounce them.
b) People would assume the child was of foreign descent, even if he was the son of two Finnish people. I don't want to be xenophobic, but I'm gonna say, this gives the wrong impression of the child's ethnic origin.
c) I have absolutely no ties to those countries/regions. I've learned Swedish and German at school, and I've visited those countries, but that's it. No ties whatsoever to Lapland. I have one family of relatives in Sweden, whom I've never met (my Mom visited them once in the sixties, which says a lot). Why should I name my child after cultures I do not belong to, even if I have 1/8th or 1/16th of them in my blood? That's right - no reason at all.

I mean, look at this list of random Welsh nouns at Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing. Any word from Welsh isn't automatically a great choice for a name, especially in a country far from Wales. You can't just take an archaic Welsh or old Norse or Celtic name and strap it onto an American 2000's kid without sounding a bit strange. Fflur? Aelwen? Ceindrych? The spellings and pronunciations of those names just simply don't fit together with modern English. You'll have to explain the name to every passer-by, and chances are some of them will only think you're pretentious to pick something so distant from your everyday life.

My suggestion to parents who want to give someone a really fancy old Norse or Welsh or Celtic name: write a saga that takes place in those times, and name your main characters that. That's a good use of such names, and it will let you name as many people as you want. It's much better than having your child spell his/her name each time s/he meets a new person.

Finnish Name Laws

2007-09-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

It appears that in the US, people can name their babies just anything. This, of course, results in more opportunities to be creative. But it's also a huge chaos. Is it a girl name or a boy name? No matter - if you want to name your kid Jason, name it Jason even if it's a girl. And if you want to be original, why not spell the name in a weird way, which often also changes the pronunciation. New names are budding constantly, but at the same time, people are more and more outraged by the name choices (see Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing).

In Finland, it's different. Names are regulated. If you want your child baptised, the minister has to approve of the name. If you want the child directly added into the national census (which you have to do if you don't want to join the child into a church), there's a board or committee deciding on acceptable names. A lot of weird ones go thru - Frodo? Hemulen? Tarzan? - so obviously it's not foolproof, but I think it keeps some of the odd names at bay. An American friend of mine says it sounds so "big brother is watching you". I don't know. Names have strong connotations and there are lots of people in the US with names others find silly or shocking, even if their parents think they're beautiful.

Finland has this system called the "name calendar" where each day of the year is given a name or names. People celebrate their "name days" (it's no birthday, but it's a reason for some people, mostly kids, to have a little fun). I'm writing this on the 24th of September, when people named Auno and Alvar can celebrate their name day. Now, the name calendar isn't supposed to be a list of acceptable names, and some more rare names don't have dates even if they're accepted. The silly thing about the name calendar, however, is that if the name's in the calendar but is terribly outdated and almost never used, you can still give that name without question. So all of those who want to name their kid Suometar, can (only 153 in all and 20 in this decade, and I'd like to know how many of these are middle names, but hey, it's a female form of Suomi (Finland), so it's so patriotic to have it there).

There are certain rules given about names. Some of them are in the law, some are not. There's a special committee that can veto a name that is too weird.
The rules that are stipulated in Finnish law are:

-You can have no more than three first names.
I know that in the US, there is a very unfortunate girl with one name for each alphabet. Alexandra Barbara Cecilia [...] and the name for X is X-Ray. It's interesting that in Finland, it's extremely common to have the full three names, even if the two latter names are almost never used. It's so common that I actually went and got myself a new middle name, because I only had one double name and felt deprived. I realize this is fairly uncommon in the US.

-Male names for boys and female names for girls.
There are some exceptions, but in general we don't really have Jamie/Sydney type unisex names. In a culture where male and female is such an important distinction (meaning the Western culture in general, not just Finland), it seems inevitable that some people will have a "male" or "female" idea of a name even if it's unisex. This might leave to the child being bullied, or being mistaken for a female or male.

-Siblings may not have the same first name.
They can still have the same middle name though (a common junior type practice in Finland). In the old days, when children often died young, a new child was frequently given its dead sibling's first name. Which is kinda creepy and implies children are replaceable. This rule makes a lot of sense, but doesn't stop people from naming their kids - a real example - Mika, Mira, and Mirka (the two latter are female names). I mean, seriously.

-The name may not be in use as a last name.
I do like Logan and some others, but I still agree with this rule, because it can get confusing. And I'm gonna say this now: I do not get why people name girls Mckenzie, Mckenna, etc. It just seems odd to me, especially since women are rarely called by their last names. The problem with this rule is that some Finnish last names are lengthened forms of first names: Mikko-> Mikkonen, Jussi-> Jussila. And yes, there are names like Jussi Jussila, and that's just plain wrong.

-The name needs to have a Finnish spelling and pronunciation, unless one of the parents is of foreign descent.
Constantly violated, understandably, since people are constantly on the lookout for new exotic names. Olivia, for one thing, has become very popular in this generation of children. I understand not giving a name like Raoul that everyone would pronounce the way it's spelled, and names like Aurora Isabella Lötjönen are ridiculous. But children with foreign descent parents are still gonna have a hard time in a Finnish school where the teacher doesn't know how to pronounce their names. On the other hand, foreign names with easy pronunciations but un-Finnish spellings like Colin could be, and are, used. I also suspect that if the name is found in the Bible, it's more likely to be accepted by a minister. It's a slippery slope.

However, after reading some of the Welsh and Celtic names at Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing, I'm gonna say it's good we have this rule. When The Bold and the Beautiful became big here in the early 90's, a couple of children got names like Ridge (including women!) and Brooke, even if Finnish people have a problem with the soft dz sound, and some (older) people even with the soft b. Ritke and Rooke, with a trilled R. Shudders.

Rules that are debatable common sense stuff:

-The name may not be a curseword or otherwise derogatory.
You can duh all you want, but someone in the US named their kid Harley Motherfucking Davidson. And a Finnish writer insisted on Otto Piru Perkele (Otto Devil Satan) and was declined.

-Double names written together are discouraged.
I don't think this a hard and fast rule, and it's a new thing. However, as the owner of a hyphenated double name, I say it's a good one. The double name is almost always shortened into one of the names, and then you just have to write a long double name in all the forms and signature lines, which are often short. Also, Finnish always puts the stress on the first syllable, so if it's Mirajohanna (one girl in 1980-99!), you're basically only supposed to stress "Mi" and string the rest along with it. Try it without getting breathless. I'm not sure how this applies to new name combinations like, say, Deniselle.
I think people who name their children something like Marjaelina (1 girl in 1980-99!) should ask themselves one question: how on earth are people going to pronounce it? Hint: There are no silent vowels in Finnish and we don't have an "ay" sound with "ae". so it's really pronounced a like in "duck" and e like in "get". Yeah. Real practical.

-Animal names are discouraged.
Again, not a hard and fast rule. It's a bit surprising for me. I mean, sure, certain animals are associated with negative characteristics, so it's understandable no one should name their child Pig or Weasel. But there are also animals that are seen as positive, and some people who love a certain animal might want to honor it by giving their child its name. Some are accepted though - Lintu (bird) was given to three girls in 2000-06, but also declined in some cases.

The name rules in Finland are becoming more flexible, and more and more novel names are getting through. When certain names become more popular, they stop sounding weird, and are finally even accepted into the name calendar. Which is as it should be. However, it really is a good thing that there are some rules and that someone watches the name choices. Don't believe me? Read Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing.

Fictional Characters Name List, Part 1

2007-09-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post was the names of fictional characters. I have a habit, or should I say addiction, of listing names. I love to list the names of TV show, movie, and book characters. I've got a project going with this, where I just list all possible names from American fiction based on gender and the year of the character's birth. I intend to get some sort of results on this and post them here.

Of course, listing fictional names without any analysis is a bit problematic. For example, do fictional names truly reflect name trends or just connotations people associate with certain names? Are the names too trendy or perhaps too classical? Are fantasy names more frequent than in real life? Are main characters usually named a different thing than side characters? Are there names that are always reserved for villains? All these questions are more interesting than the simple "Which names were popular in 1959-1970 as opposed to 1971-1982?"

However, making an extensive list that answers those questions would mean even more work. For one thing, I'd have to determine which characters are considered "main characters" in, let's say, a soap opera. If Friends has only six main characters, while The Bold and the Beautiful might have 20 or 30, are they both equally representative? Can I define main characters for a movie I haven't seen simply by looking at imdb.com? (The answer is, of course, no - imdb.com character lists are often oddly slanted towards giving side characters first billing).

To make my list really meaningful, maybe I need to juxtapose it with baby name statistics from given decades. My theory at the moment is that, especially with male names, the traditional names are surprisingly common. A writer could name his or her characters just anything - a unique name for a character wouldn't contain the same complications that a real person with a truly unique name would have, and unique names might help people remember a name better and thus remember the character. It might capture more interest. I find it weird, therefore, that so many super-traditional names like Michael, Robert, Katherine, or Elizabeth are so common among main characters of fictional shows, movies, and books. If the character names are a bit quirky, the character's often quirky too. Characters rarely have unusual spellings or pronunciations of a common name, and the nicknames are very traditional - Daniel becomes Dan or Danny, not Iel, Nie, Ani or even Ellie.

I'm going to post more about the list later, but for now, writers, have a little imagination please. Give your characters unusual names. The sky's the limit.

For the love of names...

2007-09-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

I've created this blog to celebrate my love of names. I'm going to discuss Finnish and American names mostly, but if you have interesting name stories from another country, I'd love to hear them.

New names or new spellings of classical names are coming up all the time. It seems that the junior tradition is going away and people are turning to more and more "original" or "unique" names. The irony is, of course, that now that there are six billion people in the world, somebody's bound to have come up with the same name. Is it even possible to have a completely unique name? Why has it become so important for us to find one?

For the sake of privacy, I won't reveal my own name, but I can tell you that only 84 people in Finland have it. I have some kind of pride over that, even if it's just a double name with one trend name and another fairly unpopular one put together. I've always liked having a distinctive name, on the one hand, and gotten many compliments for it. However, I've also cursed it many times - when people misspell it; remember the beginning or, more often, the more unusual latter part wrong; make many wrong guesses before they get it right; and in the case of non-Finns, pronounce it as a completely different Finnish name that I associate with older ladies.

The exact pronunciation and spelling of your name is an important identity issue. On the other hand, with foreigners, you sometimes have to accept that they come from a different language area and cannot pronounce it exactly like you. Americans don't do trilled R's, and they enunciate T's as D's. A long "e" sound from Finnish becomes an "ee" (street) or "ay" (James) sound in English. Fair enough. Tho I must admit I've switched to using online nicknames and the first part of my name only, because I hate constantly correcting people.

It's a mixed blessing to have an unusual name. At Blogspot, I've picked Deniselle. How Many of Me informs me that this is a fairly unusual name in the US, and gives the number zero, which surely isn't the real number. The US stats protect people with unusual names. The Finnish search engine, however, gives you all existing names, including those with only one 'owner' (or 'bearer'?) Have fun searching through what insane fantasy names have come up (hint: search for Lord of the Rings names). I'll post about typical Finnish names later. Maybe that can give some ideas to those in other countries interested in giving new more exotic names to their children.