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Lukas and Emma most popular Swedish names

Paul O'Mahony
Paul O'Mahony - [email protected]
Lukas and Emma most popular Swedish names

Parents wanting their children to stand out from the crowd would have done well to avoid the names Lukas and Emma in 2006. These were the most popular boys and girls names last year, according to name website svenskanamn.com.

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The year's highest climbers were Jack for boys and Freja for girls.

"Names that are really unpopular now are the ones that were popular in the 1940s and 1950s, like Bengt, Lennart, Margareta and Birgitta.

"Anybody who wants to ensure that their kids are the only ones at playschool with a certain name should choose one of those," said the site's creator Anders Malmsten in a statement.

Göran is another name that has fallen out of favour. If it was a bad year for Sweden's former prime minister Persson it was an even worse one for his first name, with just two new Görans seeing the light of day last year.

Football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson's former flame, television presenter Ulrika Jonsson, has also seen her name drop way down the rankings. Two baby Ulrikas have joined the nation.

And speaking of Sven, whatever happened to that old reliable? Your average Joe Soap is known in Sweden as a Svensson. But soon there will be no more Svens to bear sons. The name is conspicuous by its absence in the top 100 for boys.

Actors and fictional characters are a source of inspiration for many a parent, with 2006 proving a very good year for Viggo and Leia.

"People who have just become parents are trying ever harder to find unique names for their children. But since everybody is inspired by the same television programmes, books, music and so on many choose the same names in the belief that they are unusual and new," said Malmsten.

To emphasize the point, 118 new Angelinas were born in Sweden in 2006.

There are some decidedly non-Swedish names in the boys’ top 100 too.

Mohamed has climbed a few spots to 68, while Eddie is holding firm at 96.

And, many years after Britpop, Liam is still rolling with it, just slipping out of the top twenty to 21st place. Noel seems to have crashed into the wonderwall however and slumped to 59.

The Pop Idol effect is clearly visible too. Agnes Carlsson, who won the competition in 2005 has seen her name climb 19 spots to number 4.

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