Swedish nicknames – male or female?

In English, nicknames for men are often abbreviations of their name. Robert becomes Bob, Richard becomes Dick, Andrew becomes Andy. In Swedish, it’s not so. Usually, the nicknames get a bit longer and are signified by an ending that has a double consonant and ‘e’.

If you hear a Swedish name ending in double consonant and ‘e’, it is almost always a male name. The ‘e’ is pronounced ‘eh’. Jan becomes Janne, Dan is Danne, Leif is Leffe. Others are Olle, Beppe, Kalle, Chrille and Fredde. Some female nicknames ending with ‘e’ are Madde (Madeleine), and Mirre (Mariana), but female nicknames with double consonant and ‘e’ are quite unusual.

Names ending with ‘a’ are usually female names – Mia, Moa, Nadja and Ebba. If you hear a name ending in ‘a’ it is almost always a female name. There are a few male names, such as Gösta, Ola, Noa and Joshua but it is overwhelmingly female names that end with ‘a’.

Nicknames for women usually get shorter and often have ‘an’ on the end. Elisabeth becomes Bettan, Birgitta is Gittan, Therese becomes Tessan, Mikaela is Mickan.

So, how many men and how many women are in the following example?

I saw Nisse, Tobbe, Lottan and Nillan yesterday. They were sitting with Bosse, Kjelle and Affe. I’m not sure where Maggan, Nettan or Pelle were.