These are Sweden's most popular baby names
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Published: 31 Jan, 2019 CET.
Updated: Thu 31 Jan 2019 10:53 CET
The most common names given to newborns in Sweden last year had a familiar ring to them.
For the second year in a row, Alice was the most popular name for baby girls and William the most frequent pick for newborn boys.
The numbers come courtesy of Statistics Sweden (SCB), which released an overview of new baby names on Thursday.
The top picks come as no surprise. Not only did Alice and William top the list last year, both names are also perennial favourites among Swedish parents. Alice has been the most popular girl name in seven previous years and has been in the top ten since 2005 while William has been the most popular boy name in eight different years and one of the top three choices every year since 2003.
But while the top picks remained stable, some names appear to be falling out of fashion. The name that saw the steepest decline in popularity was Cornelia, which was given to 30 percent fewer girls in 2018 than the year before. The boy name Oscar also dropped out of favour, declining by 20 percent.
Three new names appeared within the top ten for girls: Maja, Alma and Elsa. Maja made the biggest gain, going from 11th place to second while Alma made its first-ever appearance in the top ten. Perhaps reflecting the end of the popular TV series ‘The Bridge’, the name Saga fell out of the top ten. The name Alicia was also absent after placing second last year, perhaps suggesting that Swedes weren’t huge fans of the ‘Tomb Raider’ reboot starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
There wasn’t a single newcomer amongst the top ten boy names, but four names did manage to make their debut in the top 100: Ture, Amir and Lias, the latter of which saw the biggest overall leap in popularity. With 141 new boys named Lias last year, the name saw a 170 percent increase. The biggest gainer among girl names was Hailey, which increased by 88 percent and landed at number 56 on the list.
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For the second year in a row, Alice was the most popular name for baby girls and William the most frequent pick for newborn boys.
The numbers come courtesy of Statistics Sweden (SCB), which released an overview of new baby names on Thursday.
The top picks come as no surprise. Not only did Alice and William top the list last year, both names are also perennial favourites among Swedish parents. Alice has been the most popular girl name in seven previous years and has been in the top ten since 2005 while William has been the most popular boy name in eight different years and one of the top three choices every year since 2003.
But while the top picks remained stable, some names appear to be falling out of fashion. The name that saw the steepest decline in popularity was Cornelia, which was given to 30 percent fewer girls in 2018 than the year before. The boy name Oscar also dropped out of favour, declining by 20 percent.
Three new names appeared within the top ten for girls: Maja, Alma and Elsa. Maja made the biggest gain, going from 11th place to second while Alma made its first-ever appearance in the top ten. Perhaps reflecting the end of the popular TV series ‘The Bridge’, the name Saga fell out of the top ten. The name Alicia was also absent after placing second last year, perhaps suggesting that Swedes weren’t huge fans of the ‘Tomb Raider’ reboot starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
There wasn’t a single newcomer amongst the top ten boy names, but four names did manage to make their debut in the top 100: Ture, Amir and Lias, the latter of which saw the biggest overall leap in popularity. With 141 new boys named Lias last year, the name saw a 170 percent increase. The biggest gainer among girl names was Hailey, which increased by 88 percent and landed at number 56 on the list.
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