One of the big challenges when having a baby in a multicultural family is choosing names that aren't too hard to pronounce, don't have strange foreign meanings, and both parties seem to like.
In Sweden they have this crazy rule that you actually have to have your child's name approved by the government before it is official. While this might be good for preventing children ending up with urban legand names like Female or Shithead, the Swedish government has been a stickler, surprisingly, for things like 'gender appropriate' names (No girls named Michael or Billy – No boys named Sue).
That means fun Swedish names are not all that crazy, but they are still fun.
I still don't know why whenever I mention to a Swede my age that Kai is one of my all-time favorite Swedish male names, I get a giggle or a funny look. Whatever. Kai is an awesome name. But sadly it was not given the seal of approval by my Swede and thus there are no little Kais in our family.
My favorite baffling Swedish name is one of the few girls names on the list:
Lillemor – This name means 'Little Mother.' Now I realize it is a rather old-fashioned and outdated name that hasn't become popular again amongst all of the new little Signes and Beas and Ingas (yes, we know some baby Ingas) – but I cannot imagine anyone looking down at their brand new little baby girl and thinking 'I shall call her Little Mother.'
Other names I enjoy:
Björn: means Bear – not unheard of in the states, I met a few Björns there. My favorite moment in My Sweet Sixteen is where the boy named Björn insists on being called Bezhourn.
Knut: This means knot. I like it a lot. A boy named knot.
Karl: This means man. A strange name for a little baby – but Man? Why not? I really like the nickname for Karl – Kalle.
I know a lot of English names have fun and crazy meanings, but mostly the meanings are derived from other languages. The fun with these names is also that they are the words you use in every day language. If you have a knot in your shoelace you have a Knut in your shoelace.
It's a bit like Stone Phillips or Rock Hudson.
I'm sure there are more fun Swedish names. But I can't think of them at the moment. What are your favorites?
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