Question about Swedish names

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Sam Leheny
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Question about Swedish names

Postby Sam Leheny » 2016-06-19, 1:53

Alright, so I was working on a fictional character with some friends for a college project. The character is supposed to be Swedish.
Due to certain visual motifs relating to rainy weather, I elected to name the character 'Regn Sörensen'.

But I'm always nervous when naming a character in another language, because what sounds nice to my English speaking ears might sound silly to somebody who speaks that language natively.

So I have a few questions.

1: I know the name Sörensen is most common in the neighbouring country of Denmark. Is this a big deal? I assume due to the language similarities and geographic proximity that there must be a lot of names that are common all over Scandinavia.
Am I wrong to assume that? Would a Swedish person hear the name "Sörensen" and immediately think "Oh, you must be Danish" ?

2: Assuming that yes, Sörensen is a fine name to use for a Swedish character, is it too stereotypical? Is it like calling an English character "Smith"?
Should I try and pick something a little less common?

3: I know the name "Regn" is a bit abnormal. I know that in an English speaking country, if a person's name was simply "Rain" people would think that a bit strange, since it's not a word usually thought of as a person's name, and it's a recognisable noun used in conversation all the time.
Is that also the case in Swedish? Is naming somebody "Regn" a little strange?
I thought I might be a bit more cryptic and looked up the Old Norse word for rain, since that's where Swedish evolved from, but no luck. Old Norse for rain is also "regn".

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Jurgen Wullenwever
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Re: Question about Swedish names

Postby Jurgen Wullenwever » 2016-06-21, 21:15

Sam Leheny wrote:1: I know the name Sörensen is most common in the neighbouring country of Denmark. Is this a big deal? I assume due to the language similarities and geographic proximity that there must be a lot of names that are common all over Scandinavia.
Am I wrong to assume that? Would a Swedish person hear the name "Sörensen" and immediately think "Oh, you must be Danish" ?

No, a slightly Danish or Norwegian looking family name is ordinary, and most people would not blink.

Sam Leheny wrote:2: Assuming that yes, Sörensen is a fine name to use for a Swedish character, is it too stereotypical? Is it like calling an English character "Smith"?
Should I try and pick something a little less common?

I do not remember any Sörensen that I have encountered, so it is not that common if it even exists. A quick search renders 2564 Sörensen among an adult population of say seven million, so it is not very frequent, but not as rare as mine.

Sam Leheny wrote:3: I know the name "Regn" is a bit abnormal. I know that in an English speaking country, if a person's name was simply "Rain" people would think that a bit strange, since it's not a word usually thought of as a person's name, and it's a recognisable noun used in conversation all the time.
Is that also the case in Swedish? Is naming somebody "Regn" a little strange?
I thought I might be a bit more cryptic and looked up the Old Norse word for rain, since that's where Swedish evolved from, but no luck. Old Norse for rain is also "regn".

Regn is not a first name and only exists as a rare family name (13 adults). You could better use Ragnar or Rainer or Roine instead, for a man's first name.
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Sam Leheny
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Re: Question about Swedish names

Postby Sam Leheny » 2016-06-24, 0:24

What about for a woman's first name?

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Jurgen Wullenwever
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Re: Question about Swedish names

Postby Jurgen Wullenwever » 2016-06-24, 7:58

Sam Leheny wrote:What about for a woman's first name?

Perhaps Ragnhild, Ragna or Regina since they are actually existing, but Regn as a first name? I get an impression of some American-style names like Summer or Afton ('evening' in Swedish). Besides, Regn sounds more masculine, and makes me think that Regn Sörensen is a strong Norwegian on a motorcycle. You do have the mythic Regin, and Regn could be seen as a contraction of that name (which actually is the case in the Ragn- of the previous names I mentioned), so okay, go ahead and use it, for a man then.
Chekhov wrote:I don't know about naive worldviews, but Jurgen Wullenwhatever pisses me off to no end because of his extreme pessimism and cynicism. You'd think the world was going to end imminently when talking to that guy.

Jag är rebell: jag sockrar teet, saltar maten, cyklar utan hjälm, och tänder glödlampor.
(Ovanstående var förut, nu försöker jag minska sockret och saltet, och har gett upp mejeriprodukter.)


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