Solveig

Solveig is a female given name of Old Norse origin. It is most common in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. It can mean either daughter of the sun or the sun's path.

Etymology

The name consists of two parts, where both parts have different theorized origins.

Versions

Generally speaking, the most common version is Solveig. However, alternative versions are used in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Latvia and on the Faroe Islands.

Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish
Icelandic
Latvian and Lithuanian
German

In fiction

Solveig is a central character in the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. She sings the famous "Solveig's Song" in Edvard Grieg's musical suite of the same name. Ibsen uses sun imagery in association to the character (scene 10, act 5), indicating that Ibsen may have favored the idea that the name is etymologically associated with the sun. There is also a female central character in the Argentine novelist Leopoldo Marechal's Adán Buenosayres named Solveig Amundsen. Furthermore, Solveig is the main character and narrator of Matthew J. Kirby's Icefall.

Notable people called Solveig

See also

References