Scandi boy name: Björn vs Nils

[NorseMum]

Hello, looking for potential future sibling names and want to know which one you think would work best in the UK: Björn or Nils? Really like both (they are family names on my side)

Nils, easier to type

I like Bjørn/Björn but the spelling is awful in English. I would go for Niels/Nils.

Nils, as otherwise he will be called Bjorn to rhyme with Born half the time and will get sick of correcting people. Plus the constant tedious Abba jokes.

Lars is my cousins name (misses the point)

I like Nils but prepare for him to be called Neil’s

I’d pick the one that isn’t a member of ABBA….

Nils. I prefer Niels though.

Definitely Nils. I think the chances of most people saying Björn correctly is very low, but they should be able to get Nils more or less.

I have Nordic children that I named to be easy enough for people in the UK. I tested a few on friends and family before deciding and you can't really overestimate how wrong people will get things. Not surprising exactly as it's not common for British people to speak any Nordic languages but you must lower your expectations.

Almost everyone in the UK will say Bee-orn. That's if you're lucky - I'd bet plenty will even try to pronounce the j as an English j. It might sound like an exaggeration, but this has happened to my daughter who has a j in her name (it's a very easy name).

I think Nils will be mispronounced too. I’m assuming it is KNEELS. I think most people will pronounce it like 0s (as in the football score 0-0).

I like both names. (But if you go with Björn and then have a girl, she will obviously have to be called Agnetha 😜)

Nils

It's somewhere between Nils and Neels.

I'd bet plenty will even try to pronounce the j as an English j. A colleague has it. Name is something like Sonja and people say Sonja not Sonya.

Some will say Björn as Bjørn.

What is the correct way to pronounce Bjorn? I have always said it to rhyme with ‘born’ - is this wrong?

My friend is called Jonas - that’s nice too -

Byurn

That's the Danish pronunciation not the Swedish.

No one unless they know Swedish or Norwegian/danish will pronounce it correctly. It will be pronounced Bee-Orn and as someone else said, some people will pronounce it Bee-Jorn with the J sounding like the G in George
The Ö will throw people won’t know how that pronounced. Put J and Ö together and you can forget it

I would go with Nils but people may pronounce it Neels or Neils.

How are both names meant to be pronounced OP?

Nils, mostly because non-standard letters are a pain from an admin perspective.

My daughter’s name is Linnea, which I didn’t think was that difficult to pronounce, but the number of times we get ‘linear’ has really surprised me!

@whattheysay , the Swedish Björn is like Biorn, Bjørn is Byurn.
Nils is sort of half way between Nills and Neels.

ˈbjœːɳ
ˈnɪlːs

I speak Swedish so I know how it’s pronounced. Norwegians and Danish would have a clue how it’s pronounced though it would sound a bit different, but ask a non Scandinavian and they would not know. Unless they’re old enough to remember Björn Borg but they would still pronounce it Bee-Orn

Surely no one would see Björn and say it Bee-jorn?! 99% of the world’s population have heard ABBA and must have heard the name Björn pronounced.

Personally I love the name and would choose it over Nils. One of my favourite names is Thorbjörn. I won’t be having a son so I’m keeping that one saved for a future dog.

They’ve heard of ABBA and their songs but do they know the names of the group? If I asked my teenage son what their names are I would bet he would not have one clue.
Also my daughters in their twenties wouldn’t be able to name them

Some people bloody well would, you can count on it. I was astonished the first time someone pronounced the j in my daughter's name - luckily we don't live in the UK so it's a rare enough occurrence that she finds it hilarious rather than annoying.

My daughter's name is much more commonly used in the UK than Bjorn, almost the most fool proof choice there was apart from Anna or María.

I would definitely avoid a non standard English alphabet letter. Even a Gaelic strac is a pain in the UK.

Nils out of those two, primarily as Bjorn just makes me think of ABBA.

We went through Scandi names and short listed Elias if we had a boy.