Baby names. Help?

[EP]

Is Leelia a real name?

Some people have named their girl Leelia (not many). Certainly not popular. To me "Leelia" still is the (invented) type who in a women´s magazine gives "good advice" to people who are heart broken or have serious problems like "should I choose A or B?" My heart is drawn towards A but relationship with B feels more secure... The column was called Leelian lepotuoli. (Leelia´s arm chair <--- looked like a shrink´s couch in the picture).

[CatNip]

Perhaps these links are useful:

http://verkkopalvelu.vrk.fi/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3. Name search of people stored in the Population Information System, including the deceased. You can basically see the statictics by name, for example:

valio Years of birth Men Women Total
-1899 11 0 11
1900-19 281 less than 5 less than 286
1920-39 361 less than 5 less than 366
1940-59 209 0 209
1960-79 43 0 43
1980-99 23 0 23
2000-09 17 0 17
2010 less than 5 less than 5 less than 10
2011 less than 5 less than 5 less than 10
Total less than 955 less than 20 less than 975


ilja Years of birth Men Women Total
-1899 17 less than 5 less than 22
1900-19 15 less than 5 less than 20
1920-39 less than 5 6 less than 11
1940-59 7 less than 5 less than 12
1960-79 122 less than 5 less than 127
1980-99 295 0 295
2000-09 177 0 177
2010 34 0 34
2011 17 0 17
Total less than 689 less than 26 less than 715

As a Finn I must say that none of the names you listed gives bad vibrations to me. Many Finnish names have a foreign origin:
http://www.compuline.fi/ComDocs/Suomi/u ... n-7kfn.htm

[merenneito]

The "traditional" names (what my grandmothers generation had) have done a comeback recently, so you can really pick any name you want without it being "too old". Lately there has also come a trend where parents try to pick, or even create the most unique name they can possibly imagine, which I must say has resulted (in my opinion) in really strange names, which I think the children might not thank them for later, or ones that no one in Finland can spell correctly...names like My, Mica, Alfa, Frodo and so on...they get even stranger

If you like the nature names, some that you could think about are names like Helmi (pearl), Meri (sea), Pilvi (cloud), Lumi (snow), Kastehelmi (the drop of water early in the morning on a leaf), Aamu (morning), Valo (light, boys name). Some recent ones are Vanilja (vanilla) and Kaneli (cinnamon). Mostly girls names, as you can see, can't think of more for boys, they are sometimes named after qualities like Toivo (hope), Urho (brave), Uljas (valiant?!?), Onni (luck), Voitto (victory), Jalo (noble) and so on... Also we have the names Veli (brother) and Sisko (sister)

There are long lists of names available on the internet and you can also try to google suosituimmat nimet 2011 or any year you like and you'll find the most popular names given that year...

[CatNip]

By accident there was a list of approved, strange names given to babies in Finland in Iltasanomat, http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kotimaa/tassa ... 74222.html

If you don't pick a name from this list, I think you are safe;)

Nämä Suomessa jo aiemmin hyväksytyt nimet löytyvät Väestörekisterista:

(Suluissa naisille/miehille annettujen nimien määrät.)

Kookos (alle 5)
Cosmo (15/46)
Eden (140/33)
Nanso (alle 10)
Nokia (alle 10)
Nöyrä (alle 10)
Hali (20/20)
Lada (kaikki naisia)
Puuma (alle 10)
Kalja (alle 10)
Sony (20/10)
Heppu (10/38)
Keiju (141/15)
Merikeiju (alle 10)
Cola (alle 10)
Rakas (15/15)
Kulta (44/35)
Ihana (86/15)
Safiiri
Rubiini
Smaragdi
Kinga (79/15)
Alfa (130/30)
Tarzan (10)
Tintti (45)
Pi (46/25)
My (410/15)
Ia (155/15)
Muna (65/15)
Kaneli (108/50)
Omena (41/20)
Meirami (20/15)
Manteli (41/15)
Vanilja (64/15

[CH]

You can see the popular names in recent years here, check under "Suosituimmat suomenkielisten lasten etunimet" (listed by year): http://www.vrk.fi/default.aspx?id=279&docid=2198
What you want to look at is the column "Ensimmäiset etunimet". People do give names, that they would never ever give as first names, as the second and third name, usually family names.

The "traditional" names (what my grandmothers generation had) have done a comeback recently, so you can really pick any name you want without it being "too old".

They actually do that all the time. They come back when the generation that held those names are more or less gone, so the name doesn't have the association of being an old person's name, just an old name.

I really liked the name "Ida" (I'm Swedish speaking), as nobody had it and it was a name everybody knew. But, before I had my daugher (it was about a 10 year period between when I came up with that name and I had my daughter) eeeeeverybody seemed to name their daughters Ida. So scrap that idea. Then I came up with Ada, to honor the first programmer.... well, I chickened out on that... it just seemed old fashioned to the extreme. Well... what do you know... my daughter has had several Adas in daycare/school the same age as her (and it is in the same way also popular as Aada in Finnish). Lots of women programmers around... or it was just time for that name to come back. Well, we went with another "old, nobody has it but everybody knows it", and so far I haven't seen any others with that name.

Oh, and I think all the names in your list are nice. Yes, Aino and Aune sounds old, but I don't think there are that many left holding those names, so I would expect them to come back shortly (ok... Aune does sound a bit too fresh from the old people's home... so I would personally not go with it, but you adjust pretty quickly your perception of a name when you have a little old-person's-name running around).

Hmm, looking at the girl names for children born in 2010... Kerttu seems to be making a comeback (place nr 22 for girls). Surprising... I wouldn't have expected it quite yet. Aino is actually at second place, so yes, it is time for it! (Hmm, I should start predicting popular names to come.) Aada and Iida still going strong, Emilia has been going strong for over 10 years. On the boys' side not that many surprises, perhaps Onni at as high as second place, I would never have guessed that!

[CH]

By accident there was a list of approved, strange names given to babies in Finland in Iltasanomat

I would say it was only "strange" to the journalist writing that article. Some of the names listed were Swedish (duh!), and at least Muna was a common arabic name according to the commenters to that article. So the lesson learned... everybody has an opionion on names ("oh, it's too strange", "a serial killer had that name", "my dog is named that", "that's a stupid name"), don't tell people the name you have chosen until it is too late!

[Ellah]

If you are ever thinking about moving or having any relations with Iceland (which you most likely aren't) don't name your kid Auli, it means "geek" or something similar

[Nukkepöksy]

Thanks everyone for the funny comments, opinions and great information. We've got a lot to debate/think about.

[Oombongo]

Chastity seems a good name

[EP]

Chastity seems a good name

Don´t laugh. Those names were fashionable (to some degree) also in Finland 100+ years ago. My aunt´s name was Lempi Siviä (something like Chaste Love), another one was Aina Tyyni (Always Calm). My uncle was Onni Armas (Dear Happiness), and another one was Sulo Toivo (Sweet Hope).

[onkko]

Also remember to not overthink name, my name is *"god is merciful" "gift of god"
What sounds good to you, you are in canada so you dont need to bother what is now "cool" in finland. If i live outside of finland and had child male would be "raimo niilo oskari" and woman would be "Elli Fiinu Katariina". Thats by assumption my imaginary fiancee wouldnt mind
And to be honest one of names would be "local" or something fitting in "local" so depending where i would be one of names would change.
My selection of names is from forefathers and such so almost all names have my emotions involved.

[onkko]

My cousin is Ida Amanda and she is 5 now

[Melanie]

Another thing to think about is how the Finnish names would be pronounced in English. Any name with letter J would be a problem. Say Viljo: either you pronounce it wrong ("vildzo"), spell it wrong (Vilio, Vilyo) or spend your life correcting people when they try to say your name (believe me, it gets tiring pretty soon!). Some vowels (or pairs of vowels) can also be problematic, say names Eila (I knew English girl once with this name, was pronounced "eye-lah", could also be "ee-lah") and Ava or Aava (normally pronounced in English like Finnish names Eva or Eeva).

Agree with others re. your list of names, all others are fine but not Ilja as it is Russian.

[Stephen B]

hey here is an idea,....just get a Finnish calender and choose a name from there. That way you child can feel pretty special with a birthday and a name day!

[Nukkepöksy]

Another thing to think about is how the Finnish names would be pronounced in English. Any name with letter J would be a problem. Say Viljo: either you pronounce it wrong ("vildzo"), spell it wrong (Vilio, Vilyo) or spend your life correcting people when they try to say your name (believe me, it gets tiring pretty soon!). Some vowels (or pairs of vowels) can also be problematic, say names Eila (I knew English girl once with this name, was pronounced "eye-lah", could also be "ee-lah") and Ava or Aava (normally pronounced in English like Finnish names Eva or Eeva).

Agree with others re. your list of names, all others are fine but not Ilja as it is Russian.

I'm not too worried about people over here not being able to pronounce the names (except for my husband. He CANNOT roll his Rs in any finnish words, it just sounds horrible). My name is Eeva, and I've had people mispronounce it my entire life. Usually people only need to be told once how to pronounce it, and they won't forget. I love my name, and I'm so glad my parents didn't worry about others mispronouncing it.