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British women are flocking to Danish sperm banks because they want 'Viking babies'

Experts say IVF clinics and sperm banks are seeing more buyers than ever actively searching for their children's fathers to be Danish.

[We all want Vikings to father our children, it is claimed]

We all want Vikings to father our children, it is claimed(Image: Getty Images)

Brits are flocking to Viking sperm banks when "shopping" for the traits they want their kids to have.

Experts say that IVF clinics and sperm banks say they are seeing more buyers than ever actively searching for their children's fathers to be Danish. They say people from the UK are systematically filtering what sperm they want by height, hair colour, and eye colour.

Donor experts state Danish sperm banks are among the most popular being used in the United Kingdom. The brand new insights from Donor Network show that British customers donor decisions are far less intrinsic than you would ever imagine.

They say most people who visit the sperm banks website do so with a set plan.

A spokesman said: "They sort, click, deselect: Blue eyes; yes. Brown hair; no. 180 centimetres. IQ above 100. The perfectly rational choices in the pursuit of a Viking baby."

Jakob Schlhammer Knudsen, founder and CEO of the Danish sperm bank Donor Network added: "There is no doubt that Danish donors are in demand for their physical traits, and we can see that our British customers filter based on appearance.

"But that is rarely what determines the final choice. Once the filters are set and the list has been narrowed down to a manageable number of donors, something else happens.

[Brits are opting for Danish sperm donors]

Brits are opting for Danish sperm donors(Image: Getty Images)

"Many people find it difficult to explain why they ended up choosing a particular donor.

"They expect to be systematic and methodical but end up choosing based on different criteria. It can be a single image where you perceive a warm smile. It can be a short personal text where you sense the person behind it."

And another researcher is psychologist Yoon Frederiksen, a specialist in health psychology who says choosing sperm is exactly like dating.

"Its about what we are attracted to in a person and the values we believe the person has or expresses," she said. "When we date, many of us have a list of pros and cons, but in the end, the choice is determined by a feeling that tells us what feels right in our gut, even if everything on paper points in a different direction.

"Images of a donor often evoke emotions because many of us are highly visual. We attribute certain traits and values to the person in the picture - traits we ourselves have or desire - without actually having any basis for knowing whether that is the case."

[They say Brits are looking for specific characteristics with their baby daddies]

They say Brits are looking for specific characteristics with their baby daddies(Image: Getty Images)

Denmark is the most popular both as a destination for fertility treatment and as a supplier of donor sperm, with more than one in five imported sperm donors in the UK coming from Denmark.

According to Yoon Frederiksen, the donor choice initially revolves around creating the perfect genetic combination, but when the decision is made, emotions take over

She said: "There has been a lot of research into what we might call decision psychology - for example, why we play the lottery. Everyone knows that the odds of winning the lottery are extremely low, yet we still do it.

"Its about hope and dreams. We envision the dream: how our future child will fit into our lives, our values, and our future."

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