Haakon
Meaning
high son, chosen son; borne by seven kings of Norway, including the current crown prince
The story
Haakon has been royal Norwegian property for a thousand years, an Old Norse name traditionally read as high son or chosen son. Seven kings of Norway have carried it, and the line is not finished: Crown Prince Haakon stands next in succession today. The most storied of them was Haakon VII, the Danish prince who accepted Norway's newly independent throne in 1905 and who, decades later, refused to bow to the German occupation, becoming the living symbol of his country's wartime resistance. In the United States the name is scarcely more than a rumor: the records show essentially nothing for over a century, then a faint stirring in the 2020s. That leaves Haakon in an unusual position, a name with a millennium of history and almost no American footprint, genuinely rare, unmistakably Nordic, and entirely certain of what it is.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Haakon has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
When you meet Haakon
Most people given the name Haakon in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Haakon deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Haakon truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Haakon fits with your family’s names and surname.
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