Ikea Norway Offers Help with Baby Names after COVID-19 Boom

The company's logo is seen at an Ikea store in Nice, France, May 11, 2022. (Reuters)
The company's logo is seen at an Ikea store in Nice, France, May 11, 2022. (Reuters)
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Ikea Norway Offers Help with Baby Names after COVID-19 Boom

The company's logo is seen at an Ikea store in Nice, France, May 11, 2022. (Reuters)
The company's logo is seen at an Ikea store in Nice, France, May 11, 2022. (Reuters)

Have you thought about Malm, Kivik or Trotten?

Swedish retailer Ikea is known for the distinctive names of its flat-pack home products. The company's Norway branch wants to use the brand's experience to help parents browsing the baby-naming department.

Ikea Norway has built "a name bank" with more than 800 listings available on its website. The names are drawn from ones Ikea has given to its furniture instead of product numbers since 1948.

"After all these years, (Ikea) has built up a large ‘catalog’ to pick from," Ikea Norway said in a statement.

Ikea names its products after Swedish towns, lakes and other geographical features, but also uses names that have traditionally gone to people.

The branch noted that while retailers saw "both a shortage of raw materials and challenges with delivery times" during the COVID-19 pandemic, "there is at least no shortage of children" in Norway.

The Scandinavian country registered the births of 56,060 babies last year, or 3,081 more than in 2020.

The increase creates "a challenge in finding unique names," Ikea Norway said.



Notre Dame Cathedral is Going to Unveil its New Interior, a Watershed in its Rebirth from Fire

Notre-Dame cathedral rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas (C) blesses the bell donated by Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO), rung by Olympic medalists during the Paris Games, for its installation in Notre-Dame Cathedral, ahead of the monument's forthcoming reopening after a massive fire and five years of rebuilding efforts, in Paris, France, 07 November 2024. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
Notre-Dame cathedral rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas (C) blesses the bell donated by Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO), rung by Olympic medalists during the Paris Games, for its installation in Notre-Dame Cathedral, ahead of the monument's forthcoming reopening after a massive fire and five years of rebuilding efforts, in Paris, France, 07 November 2024. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
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Notre Dame Cathedral is Going to Unveil its New Interior, a Watershed in its Rebirth from Fire

Notre-Dame cathedral rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas (C) blesses the bell donated by Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO), rung by Olympic medalists during the Paris Games, for its installation in Notre-Dame Cathedral, ahead of the monument's forthcoming reopening after a massive fire and five years of rebuilding efforts, in Paris, France, 07 November 2024. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
Notre-Dame cathedral rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas (C) blesses the bell donated by Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO), rung by Olympic medalists during the Paris Games, for its installation in Notre-Dame Cathedral, ahead of the monument's forthcoming reopening after a massive fire and five years of rebuilding efforts, in Paris, France, 07 November 2024. EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON

After more than five years of frenetic reconstruction work, Notre Dame Cathedral is going to unveil its new self to the world on Friday, a watershed in the rebirth from its devastating fire in 2019.
The occasion is French President Emmanuel Macron's final visit to the construction site to see the restored interiors for himself before the iconic monument's reopening for worship on Dec. 8.
His two-hour tour is being televised live. The images are expected to be breathtaking, showing creamy renovated stonework, vibrant colors, and other fruits of the mammoth reconstruction, The Associated Press said.
Joined by artisans, architects, business leaders, and donors, Macron is expected to pay tribute to the craftsmanship and dedication of all those who worked to bring Notre Dame back to life.
Macron is scheduled to inspect the restored nave, no longer ripped open by giant holes that the fire tore out of its vaults. He is also to see the rebuilt timber-framed roof, rebuilt with wood from hundreds of oak trees, and other highlights of the reconstruction.
Joined by a group of 700 artisans, architects, business leaders, and donors, Macron is paying tribute to the craftsmanship and dedication behind the restoration effort.
The visit kicks off a series of events ushering in the reopening of the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece.
Macron will return on Dec. 7 to deliver an address and attend the consecration of the new altar during a solemn Mass the following day.
Macron's administration is hailing the reconstruction as a symbol of national unity and French can-do.