Statistics Norway on Thursday published its annual list of the most popular baby names in Norway, with Nora, which first topped the list back in 2012, last year regaining its title from Olivia, a relative upstart which reached the top spot for the first time in 2023. Newcomers Selma and Ellinor broke through into the list of the top ten most popular girls' names for the first time last year, although both have been steadily growing in popularity since the early 2000s. Anders Sønstebø, senior advisor in the population statistics section at Statistics Norway, said that the emergence of Selma and Ellinor was "not particularly surprising," given their slow but steady increase in popularity over the past 20 years.
"These are older names that last had their heyday in the early 20th century and are now in their renaissance," he said. Lucas, meanwhile, retained its leadership position in the boys' ranking from last year, despite seeing one of the biggest declines in popularity of any name. It successfully fended off both Noah, which won the top spot in 2021, and Jakob, which won in 2022, but which has since fallen to fifth place.
There were four newcomers to the list of the ten most popular boy names: William, Ludvig, Liam and Johannes. This marks a historical debut for Ludvig, but a comeback for Liam, William and Johannes, although in its press release Statistics Norway said that the three comebacks were of "a very different nature". While Liam had a quick trip to the top list in .
