Solveig is a female given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 of Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 origin. It is most common in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

. Its exact meaning and origin are uncertain.

Etymology

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

• Sol-
  • Old Norse salr "house, hall, home"
  • Old Norse sól "sun"
  • Old Norse sölr "sun-coloured, yellow"

• -veig
  • Old Norse veig "strength"
  • Old Norse víg "battle"
  • Old Norse vígja "to hallow"

Versions

Generally speaking, the most common version is Solveig. However, alternate versions are used in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 and on the Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

.

Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish:

• Sólveig
• Solvei
• Solveij
• Solveg

Icelandic:

• Solveig
• Sólveig

Latvian:

• Solveiga

German:

• Solveigh

In fiction

Solveig is a central character in the play Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

 by Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

. She sings the famous "Solveig's Song

Solveig's Song

Solveig's Song , is sung by Solveig in the fourth act of Edvard Grieg's original Peer Gynt Op. 23, and for Suite No. 2, Op. 55, which was written as incidental music for inclusion in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt....

." 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.

Notable people called Solveig

• Solveig Kringlebotn
  Solveig Kringlebotn
  Solveig Kringlebotn , also known professionally as Solveig Kringelborn, is an internationally-known Norwegian operatic soprano...
  
  
• Solveig Gulbrandsen
  Solveig Gulbrandsen
  Solveig Gulbrandsen is a Norwegian footballer from the Oppegård area to the South-East of Oslo. She is a midfielder on her club side Stabæk Fotball....
  
  
• Solveig Sollie
  Solveig Sollie
  Solveig Sollie is a Norwegian politician for the Christian People's Party, who served as parliamentary representative for Telemark 1985-1993. She was also Minister of Administration and Consumer Affairs in 1989, and Minister of Family and Consumer Affairs in 1990.-References:...
  
  
• Solveig Krey
  Solveig Krey
  Solveig Krey is a Norwegian naval officer.She hails from Lonkan, and graduated from the Norwegian Naval Academy in 1989. She became the first female commanding officer of a submarine in the world, when she took command of HNoMS Kobben, the lead ship of her class of Royal Norwegian Navy submarines,...
  
  
• Solveig Dommartin
  Solveig Dommartin
  Solveig Dommartin was a French-German actress.Her acting career began in the theatre with "Compagnie Timothee Laine" and with the "Theater Labor Warschau". She had her first experiences with film as an assistant of Jacques Rozier.Her debut as a film actress was Wings of Desire under Wim Wenders...
  
  
• Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen
• Sólveig Pétursdóttir
  Sólveig Pétursdóttir
  Sólveig Guðrún Pétursdóttir is a former speaker of the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, serving between 2005 and 2007. She has been a parliament member since 1991 for the Reykjavík Constituency Sólveig Guðrún Pétursdóttir (born 11 March 1952) is a former speaker of the Althing, the Icelandic...
  
  
• Martin Solveig
  Martin Solveig
  Martin Picandet, better known under his stage name Martin Solveig is a French electronic music DJ and producer from Paris. He also hosts a weekly radio show called "C'est La Vie" on stations worldwide including FG DJ Radio in his homeland...
  
  , a French DJ
• Solveig Heilo
• Solveig Enga