← 1880 1879 1878 1881 in Norway → 1882 1883 1884
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	1881 in Sweden List of years in Norway

Events in the year 1881 in Norway.

• Monarch: Oscar II .^[1]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010)

Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen's, Ghosts, is released.

• 3 January – Wilhelm Faye, military officer and war historian (died 1967).^[2][3]
• 5 January – Jørgen Bru, sport shooter (died 1974)
• 24 February – Per Askim, naval officer (died 1963).^[4]
• 27 February – Sigvard Sivertsen, gymnast and Olympic gold medallist (died 1963)
• 11 March – Wictor Esbensen, mariner and explorer (died 1942)
• 17 March – Kristian Elster, Jr, novelist, literary historian, theatre critic and biographer (born 1881).^[5]
• 20 March – Dorthea Dahl, writer in America (died 1958)
• 26 March – Marta Marie Nielsen, schoolteacher and politician (d. 1948).^[6]
• 28 April – Carl Bonnevie, jurist and politician (died 1972).^[7]
• 6 June – Anton Djupvik, politician (died 1951)

• 23 July – Thorleiv Røhn, military officer, gymnast and Olympic gold medallist (died 1963)
• 27 August – Elise Hambro, educator (died 1966).^[8]
• 13 September – Carl Bugge, geologist (died 1968).^[9]
• 15 September – Wilhelm Blystad, track and field athlete (died 1954)
• 11 October – Leif Georg Ferdinand Bang, politician
• 25 October – Oskar Braaten, novelist and playwright (died 1939)
• 27 October – Edvard Larsen, triple jumper and Olympic bronze medallist (died 1914)
• 29 October – Niels Christian Ditleff, diplomat (died 1956)
• 7 November – Rikard Berge, folklorist (died 1969).^[10]
• 15 November – Andreas Hagelund, gymnast and Olympic gold medallist (died 1967)
• 4 December – Edvard Bull, Sr., historian and politician (died 1932)
• 17 December – Yngvar Bryn, track and field athlete and pairs figure skater (died 1947)
• 27 December – Sigvart Johansen, rifle shooter and Olympic bronze medallist

• Erik Glosimodt, architect (died 1921)
• Marie Hamsun, actor and writer (died 1969)
• Sigurd Halvorsen Johannessen, politician (died 1964)
• Per Larssen, politician and Minister (died 1947)
• Knut Liestøl, politician and Minister (died 1952)
• Kristian Prestrud, polar explorer (died 1927)
• Jakob Sverdrup, philologist and lexicographer (died 1938)

• 7 January – Jens Zetlitz Kielland, consul and artist (born 1816)
• 11 April – Kristian Elster, Sr, novelist, journalist, literary critic and theatre critic (born 1841).^[11]

• Jens Henrik Beer, businessperson, farmer and politician (born 1799)
• Jens Gran, politician (born 1794)
• Christopher Andreas Holmboe, philologist (born 1796)
• Peter Daniel B. W. Kildal, politician (born 1816)
• Thomas Konow, naval officer and politician (born 1796)
• Ludvig Vibe, philologist and educator (born 1803)