🇳🇴 Baby Naming Rules in Norway
Norway gives parents six months, the longest window of any country on this site, and attaches a specific consequence to missing it: the child takes the mother's surname.
- Legal basis
- Lov om personnavn (navneloven) of 7 June 2002
- Authority
- Skatteetaten, through the national population register
- Deadline
- Before the child turns six months old
- How many names
- One or more first names; a single or double surname
- Sex of the name
- Not required
- Approved list
- None
Six months, and the default if you miss it
Section 1 of the Norwegian naming act states that everyone shall have a first name and either a single or a double surname, and may in addition have a middle name.
Section 2 sets the deadline. At the latest when the child turns six months old, whoever holds parental responsibility must send notification of the name the child is to have. If six months pass without a notification, or without one that can be accepted, the child takes the mother's surname.
That is a real legal consequence rather than an administrative nudge, and it is what distinguishes the Norwegian deadline from the Swedish one, which is enforced by a charge instead.
The surname rule that catches foreign parents
Section 8 contains a restriction with no equivalent in most of Europe. A name that is registered in the population register as a name that is or has been in use as a surname or middle name cannot be chosen as a first name.
There are three ways out of it. The name may still be taken as a first name if it has its origin or tradition as a first name in Norway or abroad, or if it has a tradition in a culture that does not distinguish between first names and surnames. The exception is broad, but the rule means that a name common as a surname in Norway will be questioned in a way it would not be in Sweden or Denmark.
The general ground for refusal
Beyond the surname rule, section 10 provides the catch-all: a name notification is refused where the person's name could otherwise become a significant disadvantage for them, or where other strong reasons require it.
The test looks at disadvantage to the bearer and to others. It is not restricted to children, and it is the provision under which unusual adult name changes are also assessed.
Sources
Every statement on this page is taken from an official or judicial source. The links below go to the originals so you can check them yourself.
- Lov om personnavn (navneloven), chapter 1 (Lovdata)
- Lov om personnavn (navneloven), chapter 2 (Lovdata)
Last reviewed: August 2026. This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal advice. Where a decision matters to you, ask the authority that will register the name.