Ola Nordmann is a

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. In the first personifications in the Western World, warrior deities or figures symboliz ...

Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

, either for individuals or collectively. It is also used as a

placeholder name Placeholder names are intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmat ...

. The female counterpart is Kari Nordmann, and collectively they are referred to as Ola og Kari Nordmann (Ola and Kari Nordmann).

Usage of the name Ola Nordmann

As a national personification

The media often uses "Ola Nordmann" to describe trends in the population.Forbruker.no May 2 2006 - Ola Nordmann has become a speculator
''- Article in Norwegian detailing how the number of private citizens trading stocks on Oslo Børs has skyrocketed in the last 12 months.'' - Referenced as an example of the media's use of Ola Nordmann as a national personification. For example: A headline in a newspaper that reads ''Norwegians consume less milk'' could just as well read ''Ola Nordmann drinks less milk''. Caricatures of Ola Nordmann as a

of Norway usually depict him as a blond-haired man dressed in bunad-like traditional folk clothing and wearing a woollen red top cap - the traditional headwear of a Norwegian gnome or nisse. This headwear was also worn by the traditional Norwegian farmer, mostly in the old Norwegian farm culture. In the romantic national period, the farmer often came to represent the Norwegian people as a whole, hence the representation.

As a placeholder name

Ola Nordmann is also used as a default name in examples used to guide people in how to fill in forms etc. (similar to Joe Bloggs in the UK or John Doe in America). In legal examples, Peder Ås is often used as a placeholder name instead.

Etymology

Ola is a common male first name in Norway (derived from Olav/Olaf), and Nordmann is a

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

for a Norwegian, i.e. ''"Ola Norwegian"''.

Kari Nordmann

The female equivalent or variant is personified as Kari Nordmann, "Kari and Ola Nordmann" is often used together to describe the archetypical Norwegian family or household.

References