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BABIES

What are Sweden’s most popular names?

If your child is called either Elsa or Lucas, you've given the most popular names in Sweden during 2014.

What are Sweden's most popular names?
Elsa and Lucas were 2014's most popular names in Sweden. Photo: Image Bank Sweden
Data collected by Statistics Sweden has revealed that Lucas was the favorite name for boys last year, for the second year in a row, with Elsa representing girls in first place.
 
Elsa moved up from third place last year – we can't be sure if parents found inspiration from Disney's 2013 hit "Frozen" in making that choice.
 
Alice, this year's second most popular name for girls, was overtaken after three years of being in first place.
 
Maja was also slightly less popular this year, slipping from second to third place.
 
The name Elsa was given to 850 girls, while 860 little Lucas-es were born in 2014.
 
Below is the complete list (with 2013 placements in brackets)
 
Girls
 
1. Elsa, 850 babies (3)
 
2. Alice, 806 (1)
 
3. Maja, 732 (2)
 
4. Agnes, 673 (11)
 
5. Lilly, 646 (12)
 
6. Olivia, 626 (8)
 
7. Julia, 610 (5)
 
8. Ebba, 603 (6)
 
9. Linnea, 594 (17)
 
10. Molly, 579 (15)
 
Boys
 
1. Lucas, 860 (1)
 
2. William, 851 (2)
 
3. Oscar, 805 (3)
 
4. Oliver, 754 (4)
 
5. Liam, 728 (7)
 
6. Elias, 721 (10)
 
7. Hugo, 696 (5)
 
8. Vincent, 641 (13)
 
9. Charlie, 634 (6)
 
10. Alexander, 630 (8)

NAMES

Adolf, Alexa, Greta: These are the names Germans don’t want to give their kids

History, technology and current political trends all seem to have an influence when German parents decide on names for their children, a new survey shows.

Adolf, Alexa, Greta: These are the names Germans don’t want to give their kids
File photo: dpa | Fabian Strauch

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Adolf is the least popular name for Germans to give their children. 

While Adolphus was a relatively popular name in the first part of the 20th century, its association primarily with Adolf Hitler has since made it taboo.

A survey brought out by YouGov on Thursday shows that 89 percent of Germans say it is “unlikely” they would call their child Adolf, although 8 percent still say it is “likely” they would do so.

READ ALSO: What it’s like to share a name with the world’s most notorious dictator

Alexa, the name of Amazon’s virtual assistant, is also rather unpopular, with 79 percent of respondents saying they would probably not pick this as a name for their child.

Kevin, a name strongly associated with the fashion of giving children American names during the communist era in East German, is also now unpopular. Some 80 percent say they wouldn’t give their child this name.

According to a survey done in 2011, men called Kevin also have less luck in finding love online, presumably because of the negative associations of the once popular name.

For girls, Greta seems to be unpopular, with three quarters of respondents saying they wouldn’t use it as a name for their child. YouGov says that “perhaps people have the polarizing climate activist Greta Thunberg in the backs of their minds.”

Asked what they believed has the most impact on how names are chosen, the respondents said that family and ethnic background have an overwhelmingly positive influence.

Politics and current trends on the other hand were seen to have a generally negative impact on the favourability of names.

The survey also found out that Germans are generally very happy with their given names, with 84 percent voicing satisfaction and just 13 percent expressing dissatisfaction.

The results come from a representative study of 2,058 people in Germany between February 12th and February 15th.

SEE ALSO: These are Germany’s most popular baby names for 2020

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