Up like rockets: Olle and Minna
According to Statistiska centralbyrån (Statistics Sweden), Alice was the most popular girl’s name among newly born last year, thus Maja dropped to second place. William was the most popular boy’s name, effectively removing Oscar from the first spot. The name Alice was given to 985 girls and it is not a new phenomenon; it has been on the top ten list since 2005.
1,035 boys were named William, a name that was also the most popular boy’s name in 2007. New was the name Minna, which was the fastest increasing girl’s name during 2011. The name, which incidentally is an old German name meaning “care” or “love”, increased by 50% last year compared to the year prior.
A completely new name on the 100 most popular girl’s name was Sigrid. Kajsa and Novalie left the list. Among the boy’s names that are increasing in popularity are Olle, Loke and Tage. The name Olle, which is a Norse variant of Olaf and means “ancestor’s relic”, was given to 602 boys last year, compared to 464 boys in 2010. The names Johannes and Julian disappeared from the list. The names Tilde, Maria, Tilda for girls and Theo, Alex, and Tim for boys were names that decreased most in popularity.
Last year's most popular names, vaguely like a popular brand of hot dogs in the U.S.: Most popular names for newborns in 2010

Most popular names for girls
1. Alice
2. Maja
3. Elsa
4. Julia
5. Linnéa
6. Ella
7. Ebba
8. Molly
9. Wilma
10. Emma

Most popular names for boys
1. William
2. Lucas
3. Oscar
4. Hugo
5. Elias
6. Oliver
7. Liam
8. Alexander
9. Viktor
10. Emil
Source: Statistiska centralbyrån