Swedish Girl Names and Their Meanings [FULL List]
People most commonly associate Sweden with snow and cold weather, beautiful women and Vikings, fika and Ikea and Spotify. All in all, an amazing mix (there’s a lot more to Sweden than that) with plenty to offer.
Today, though, we’re going to look at Swedish names – mainly Swedish names for girls, as well as their meanings.
This way, you can learn what your name means, if you have one of Swedish origin. Or, if you’re going to have a baby soon, you can browse this complete list of Swedish names and find a perfect one for your baby girl.
I’ve also shared a few other name suggestion articles in the past, so you might want to check out the list of Norwegian girl names, or my epic article sharing 100 Viking name ideas for boys and girls.
With these out of the way, let’s get to checking out the actual list of Swedish names for girls, so that you can quickly choose your favorite.
Swedish Names for Girls & Their Meanings
Alva – The feminine form of the name Alf, which is derived from the Old Norse alfr, meaning “elf.”
Astrid – A modern form of the Ancient Scandinavian name “ÁSTRÍÐR,” which was Derived from the Old Norse elements áss meaning “god” (yup!) and fríðr meaning “beautiful.”
Alice – Derived from the Old French name Aalis, which is a short form of the name Adelais, which itself is a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis. This name combines the Germanic elements adal, meaning “noble” and heid, meaning “kind”.
Alicia – A more Swedish variant of the name Alice.
Ebba – Feminine version of the name Ebbe, which is a diminutive form of the name Eberhard, meaning “wild boar.” In Scandinavia, this name is also used as a diminutive of the name Esben.
Elin – A Scandinavian form of the Greek name Helene, which gets its meaning from either the Greek word helene meaning “torch” or selene meaning “moon.” Either way, it sounds really cool imho.
Ella – Diminutive of the names Eleanor, Ellen and other names beginning with El, also used a short form for names ending in “ella”.
Elsa – Elsa is a short form of the name Elizabeth, which in Hebrew means, “my oath is a god.” Due to the relatively recent success of the movie Frozen, this name has quickly risen in popularity.
Eva – This name was derived from the Hebrew name Chawwah which either comes from the word “Chawah” meaning “to breathe” or “Chayah” meaning “to live.”
Filippa – Swedish feminine form of the name Philip, which comes from the Greek name Philippos, meaning “friend of horses.”
Felicia – A feminine form of the Latin name Felicius, which is derived from the name Felix which means “lucky, successful”.
Freja – The Swedish spelling of the name Freya, which comes from the Old Norse word “Freyja,” meaning “lady.”
Ingrid – This one comes from the Old Norse name Ingríðr, which means “Ing is beautiful.” The name combines the name of a Germanic god, Ingwaz, representing unity and harmony and the d Norse element friðr, which means “beautiful, beloved.”
Klara – A variant of the name Clara, derived from the name Clarus, which meant “clear, bright.” This variant is more popular in Sweden than the more “traditional” Clara is.
Lena – Short form of names ending in lena, such as Helena, Magdalena, Yelena, etc.
Lilly – As the flower of the same name, the word Lily was ultimately derived from the Latin word lilium.
Linnea – From the name of the twinflower, Linnaea borealis, which was named after Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus. Being an important scientist from Sweden made the name popular.
Maria – The name Maria originates from Latin, but the exact meaning is uncertain. It is believed that it could mean “of the sea” or “rebelliousness,” “beloved” or even “bitter”.
Majken – A more Swedish variant of the name Maiken, a Danish and Norwegian diminutive of the name Maria.
Maja – A diminutive form of the name Maria, common in Slavic countries as well as Scandinavian.
Nova – Derived from the Latin word novus, which means “new.”
Saga – In modern Swedish, the word saga means “story, fairy tale,” In Old Norse, this word possibly meant “seeing one.” Saga is also the name of a Norse Goddess.
Signe – A variant of the name Signy. This name gets its meaning from the Old Norse elements sigr, meaning “victory” and ný, meaning “new.”
Sigrid – From the Old Norse name Sigríðr, which combines the Old Norse elements sigr meaning “victory” and fríðr meaning “beautiful, fair.”
Siv – In Old Norse, the word Siv meant “bride.” In Norse mythology, the name Siv was borne by the wife of Thor.
Tyra – From the Old Norse name Þýri, which is a variant of Norse names that combine the element Þórr, meaning “thunder,” with the elements ví, meaning “holy,” or veig meaning “strength.” We can say that this is the feminine name for Thor.
Vera – The name Vera has been present in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century, probably coming from the Russian language. In Russia, it means “faith.” However, it could have Latin roots, where Verus meant “True”.
The most common Swedish girl names (and my favorites)
If you’re still having a tough time deciding for a future name, let me share you a bunch of my favorites from the list above, but also names that are very popular in Sweden:
- Alicia, Elin, Elsa, Linnea and Saga
You shouldn’t be too surprised to see these popular names show up in other Nordic countries like Denmark and Norway – after all, they in the same region.
Conclusion
Whether you wanted to give your daughter a Swedish name, or just wanted to show off a bit of knowledge to a Swedish girl, we hope this list helped you better understand the origin and meaning behind some of the more popular names.
If you know other traditional Swedish names for girls – ideally, as well as their meaning, don’t hesitate to share them with us all in the comments section below.
