NorwegianOld Norse2 syllables
Meaning: high son; highborn kinsman.
Håkon
Norway has had seven kings called Håkon, and the seventh is the reason the country still has a monarchy at all.
| Origin | Old Norse Hákon, in unbroken Norwegian use since the saga age |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Traditionally glossed as high son, from hár (high) + konr (son, kinsman, one of good family) — the same konr behind English king |
| Pronunciation | HOH-kon in Norwegian, the å a long open o. English speakers usually say HAH-kon and are understood |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and almost unused in America; steady in Norway across a thousand years |
| Variants | Haakon (pre-1917 spelling), Håkan (Swedish), Hákon (Icelandic), Hakon (English rendering) |
| Nicknames | Norwegians use it whole; Håkon Magnus and Håkon Andreas are common double names |
| Royal bearers | Seven kings of Norway, plus the present crown prince, born 1973 |
History & meaning
The first element is plain enough: hár, high. The second, konr, is the interesting one. It means son or kinsman, but specifically a kinsman of good stock — it sits in the same word family as konungr, king, and behind English king itself. Håkon therefore says something closer to highborn than to tall, and the Norwegians who used it in the tenth century meant it.
Håkon the Good, who ruled from around 934, had been fostered at the English court of Æthelstan and came home a Christian to a country that was not; the sagas remember him as a lawgiver who lost the argument about religion. Håkon IV Håkonsson, king from 1217 to 1263, ended a century of civil war and brought Iceland and Greenland under the Norwegian crown, which is as large as medieval Norway ever got. Then the name went quiet for six hundred years. In 1905 Norway dissolved its union with Sweden and elected a Danish prince, Carl, as king; he took the Old Norse name Håkon VII, named his son Olav, and in 1940 refused the German demand that he appoint a collaborationist government. That refusal, broadcast from exile, is still taught in Norwegian schools as the King's No.
Why parents choose it
Håkon is history with no shame attached. Unlike the deity names, it was carried by real people continuously, so it is neither a revival nor a costume. Norwegian parents choose it for exactly that reason. Abroad it asks a small favour of the reader — the å, and the fact that the k is hard — but it repays it with two clean syllables and a meaning that does not need decoding.
Middle names for Håkon
The Norwegian convention is a second name of equal weight rather than a filler: Håkon Magnus, Håkon Elias, Håkon Andreas, Håkon Theodore. Anything ending in a hard k will jam. Our middle names guide explains why.
Famous Håkons
Håkon VII reigned from 1905 to 1957 and became the symbol of Norwegian resistance during the occupation. Crown Prince Haakon, born in 1973, is his great-grandson and heir to the Norwegian throne. Going back further, Håkon Sigurdsson ruled Norway as jarl in the late tenth century, the last effective pagan ruler the country had.
Consider instead
Harald is the other great Norwegian royal name and belongs to the current king. Sverre is the king Håkon IV's grandfather deposed, and a harder, stranger sound. Magnus has the same regnal weight with a Latin rather than a Norse root.