Entry № 480 · Old Norse origin

Alva Alva — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ AHL-vah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Old Norse
Meaning
"Elf, supernatural being"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Ancient (Old Norse)

A name that means "elf, supernatural being".

Alva is the Old Norse and Swedish word for "elf" — the supernatural being from Norse mythology. Feminine of Alf.

Alva Myrdal (1902-1986) was the Swedish Nobel Peace Prize laureate, mother of Sissela Bok.

Elf. The Swedish Nobel Peace laureate.

The name in its native script.

Alva
Transliteration
Alva
Pronunciation
/ ˈɑːl.və /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Alva stands.

Alva does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Alvas before her.

Real people
Alva Myrdal
Swedish Nobel Peace laureate.
1902 – 1986
In fiction
Alva
Common in Scandinavian fiction.

Names connected to Alva.

The number behind Alva.

9

The Giver

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Alva reduce to 9, The Giver. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.