Ola Nordmann is a national personification of

Norwegians Norwegians ( no, nordmenn) are a North Germanic 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 N ...

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

placeholder name Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in the context in wh ...

. 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 national personification of Norway usually depict him as a blond-haired man dressed in

bunad ''Bunad'' (, plural: ''bunader''/''bunadar'') is a Norwegian umbrella term encompassing, in its broadest sense, a range of both traditional rural clothes (mostly dating to the 18th and 19th centuries) as well as modern 20th-century folk costume ...

-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 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

. 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 "Joe Bloggs" and "Fred Bloggs" are placeholder names used primarily in the United Kingdom to represent the average man on the street. It is used by students, on standardized test preparation courses, to represent the average test-taker. Many coun ...

in the UK or

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

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 for a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, 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