Kjell

the letter proposed for use in Norwegian

Kjell is a Scandinavian usually male given name. In Denmark, the cognate is Kjeld or Keld. The name comes from the Old Norse word kętill, which means "kettle" and probably also "helmet" or perhaps "cauldron". Examples of old spellings or forms are Ketill (Old Norse), Kjætil (Old Swedish) and Ketil (Old Danish). Unreliable source: date=October 2019 An equally likely meaning is a source, a hope that the boy will get ample resources to draw upon later in life. Kjell has a name day on July 11 in Norway and July 8 in Sweden, and in Denmark with the variant Kjeld.

In 2007, there were 59,011 men in Sweden with "Kjell" as their first name, making it the 42nd most common masculine name in Sweden. In Swedish and Norwegian it is pronounced with the voiceless alveolo palatal sibilant fricative [ɕ]. There were 30,809 men in Norway with "Kjell" as their first name. This makes it the 5th most common masculine name in Norway. In Denmark, 8079 men were called "Kjeld" and 5491 "Keld". In Finland, the number of men called Kjell in 2008 was 1405. The name began to be widely used in the 1600s when it took over from the older name form Kætil or Ketill, which were also precursors of the name Kjetil, and a loan from Latin catillus, which is the diminutive of catinus (= barrel, bowl). Kætil/Ketill was probably one of the most common male names in Old Norse times. In Landnámabók, it is the male name that occurs most often even more frequently than the most widely used compositions with Tor There are 44 found runic inscriptions from the Viking era that contain the name Kætill, which is why it is the 13th most used male name in this material. Five of the inscriptions are found in Denmark and three in Norway, most others have unknown sites. The name was most often written with runes like ᚲᛖᛏᛁᛚ (ketil), ᚲᛁᛏᛁᛚ (kitil) or ᚲᚨᛏᛁᛚ (katil). In Denmark the name appears in many village (torp) names, so there are nearly 20 places named Kelstrup or Kjelstrup. However, the name does not appear in compositions with lev, and it can only be explained that it was not used at the time when lev names were formed. Consequently, we can date the period when Kætil/Ketill was used as a name, at the time between the end of the Migration Period and the beginning of the Viking Age. But the reason that the name gained such tremendous prevalence within a few centuries, we do not know. The name Kjell is known in Norway from the 1400s. In recent times, the name was widely used in the 1940s and 50s, but is now rarely used for newborn boys. Historical development of the popularity of the name Kjell in Norway. In Sweden, the name was most popular in the 1940s. Historical development of the popularity of the name Kjell in Sweden. Kjell is today a common name in Norway and Sweden, and Kjeld or Keld is common in Denmark. The following table provides a detailed overview of the popularity of the male name Kjell and its variants in some of the countries where statistics are available. Country Variant Among the country's population Among newborns Number Percent Ranking Number Percent Ranking Norway Kjeld (2013) % ca. 131 Denmark Kjell (2012) 253 Finland Kjell % ca. 272 Iceland Ketill (2012) % ca. 352 Denmark Kjeld (2012) % 591 Faroe Islands Kjell (2006) % 670 Faroe Islands Kjeld (2006) % 670 Denmark Kjell (2013) % ca. 683 Netherlands Kjell (2012) % 695 Denmark Ketil (2013) % ca. 828