The most popular names in Sweden last year were Maja and Oscar.

According to Statistiska Centralbyrån (Statistics Sweden) 895 baby girls (that’s 1.6%) were given the name Maja. It is not the first time, however: Maja has been at the top three times the last five years. For boys, Oscar went from third to first place.

Oscar is another name that’s been on the top ten list through the 2000’s.

A total of 1108 boys were named Oscar last year, replacing Eric, Victor and Axel.

The five most popular girls’ names:
1. Maja
2. Alice
3. Julia
4. Linnéa
5. Wilma.

The five most popular boys’ names:
1. Oscar
2. William
3. Lucas
4. Elias
5. Alexander.

By the way, Maja is a Germanic, Scandinavian and Slavic form of Maia from the Greek mythology, where Maia was the eldest of the Pleiades. It can also be a Swedish short form of the name Maria. In Hebrew, the name Maya is a short form of “ma’ayan”, meaning “spring” or “brook”. The name Oskar or Oscar comes from “Ossian”, the cycle of poems, which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. The source is Old Norse and was then Asgeirr, with “as” meaning god or deity and “geirr” meaning spear.