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The ten oddest names in Sweden revealed

Published: 13 Mar 13 13:45 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46712/20130313/

Exactly 1,288 men in Sweden are Odd by name, and that's just the beginning. The Local has collected ten of the strangest names from across the country.

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare once mused.

If he'd ever crossed path with a Swede or two, even he might have been left scratching his head looking for an answer.

Besides the name Odd being perhaps the oddest of them all, we've collected our favourite examples of where a common Swedish name simply looks weird to a set of English eyes.

IN PICTURES: Click here for the ten oddest Swedish names

People named after animals, body parts, and even small parents... they're all here in our top ten and they're all fairly common too, at least according to the figures we consulted from Statistics Sweden (SCB), the country's official statistics agency.

Without further ado, check out the top ten here, and be sure to let us in on any we may have forgotten.

Oliver Gee
Follow Oliver on Twitter here

What do you think? Leave your comment below.

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15:25 March 13, 2013 by Gordy
I know a guy called Odd Arne, after three days of routine Ireland he gave up and just told people his name was John. :)
16:01 March 13, 2013 by Emerentia
Here are some more "funny" names:

Gun (We used to have a minister of justice called Gun Hellsvik, her name sounded funny in English "Gun Hell's week".

Liv (life)

Knut (knot)

Sten (stone)

Kaj (quay)

A name like Else could sound funny in English.
18:15 March 13, 2013 by skogsbo
And folk wonder why some immigrants struggle to intergrate when they are like school kids giggling at the teachers unusual name!

Ps. Knut or a very close variation of it was king of most of northern Europe, including what is now the UK.
19:32 March 13, 2013 by Gordy
routine = touring

Automatic spell check fail...
10:00 March 14, 2013 by Borilla
No worries about raising the level of The Local in Sweden. In addition to questionable comments from near and far, TL now makes fun of Swedish names because they "sound funny" to English speakers. They are SWEDISH names. One could certainly page through a telephone directory in the UK or the US and find names that sound funny to both English and non-English speakers. And, of course, the standard "why are so many people in Mexico City called Jesus"? Grow up and spend more time reporting real news rather than this blather.
12:16 March 14, 2013 by Åskar
Odd is not a Swedish name, it's Norwegian, and I think many Swedes find it very funny that Kate Middleton's sister is called Pippa.
20:55 March 15, 2013 by Hapeka
Some Swedish names might sound strange to English ears, but imagine our shock when we arrived in the USA from Austria and met several big strapping fellows named Bud!

Somehow they did not look like future flowers!
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