Main category: Swedish given names

About Swedish given names

Swedish given names tend to go in and out of fashion. Usually a name will be unfashionable for about 80 years before coming back in fashion. Most names stay popular for about ten years, leading to the possibility of guessing a Swede's age-group by his or her name. Names that are consistently popular, regardless of fashion waves, exist but are few. Some such names are Anna and Erik.

As opposed to many Hindu, Persian and Spanish names the meaning of a Swedish name is rarely obvious. While many Persian names correspond directly to a noun, in Sweden people rarely know the exact meaning of the name they give their child and if they do it's been found out after investigation. Few names, such as Björn ("bear") and Liv ("life"), are nouns spelled the same way and with an actual modern meaning.

In general the names can be divided into four categories, based on their origin.

The native Swedish names of Norse origin that are often the same in Danish, and Norwegian. A good example would be Ingrid, very common in Sweden and often perceived as a good, proper, Scandinavian name, examplified by Ingrid Bergman.
Names incorporated in Sweden through Latin and Hebrew, due to the arrival of Christianity in the 11th century. While some Biblical names are completely obsolete or even found amusing others are extremely common and has proven lasting popularity.
Foreign names come into Sweden through influence of other languages and cultures. There are most commonly of German, French or English origin and most of them have been around in Swedish mental database of names for centuries. An example is Oscar, which became popular with the birth of the Swedish crown-prince later to become Oskar I and still today is very common. Historically the royal family of Sweden were the main source in popularizing new names or re-instating old ones, and to some extent still are.
The relatively new names due to immigration and cultural influence. Examples of these are Mohammad, popular amongst Swedens Muslim immigrants, Kevin, made popular in the early nineties by the Home Alone movie and Anita, an originally Spanish name very common amongst Swedish women born in the thirties and forties, for example Anita Ekberg.

Certain names may be both pronounceable and recognizeable to Swedes but will simply not be functional. While names like Cordelia, Flavio, Griselda and Hector are common and highly functional in many other countries, they appear ridiculous in Swedish context and would quite possibly be used in fiction to attain comical effect.

The most common given names in Sweden 1890 - 2008

This list includes all names that occurred at least 30 000 times as first or middle names among the Swedish citizens alive in 1973, 1995 or/and 2008. Names in bold occurred at least 100 000 times. The decade tells when the name was most common. The "1890s" group includes some persons born in 1865-1889.

Male

Alexander 1990s-2000s

Alf 1930s

Allan 1920s

Anders 1960s

Andreas 1980s

Anton 1990s

Arne 1920s

Arvid 1900s

Axel 1890s, 2000s

Bengt 1940s

Bertil 1920s

Birger 1920s

Björn 1970s

Bo 1940s

Bror 1910s

Börje 1930s

Carl 1990s

Christer 1940s

Christian 1980s

Daniel 1980s

David 1980s

Einar 1900s

Emanuel 1910s

Emil 1890s, 2000s

Eric 1990s

Erik 1910s-1930s

Ernst 1900s

Evert 1920s

Folke 1910s

Fredrik 1970s

Georg 1910s

Gunnar 1910s-1940s

Gustaf 1910s

Gustav 1890s, 1990s

Göran 1940s

Gösta 1910s

Hans 1930s-1970s

Harald 1910s

Harry 1910s

Henrik 1970s

Henry 1920s

Håkan 1960s

Ingemar 1930s

Ingvar 1930s

Ivar 1910s

Jan 1960s

Johan 1890s, 1980s

Johannes 1990s

John 1910s

Jonas 1970s

Karl 1910s

Kent 1950s

Kjell 1940s

Knut 1910s

Kurt 1930s

Lars 1940s-1970s

Leif 1940s

Lennart 1930s

Magnus 1970s

Marcus 1990s

Martin 1980s

Mats 1960s

Mattias 1970s

Michael 1960s

Mikael 1960s

Niklas 1970s

Nils 1920s

Olof 1920s-1930s

Olov 1930s

Oskar 1890s, 2000s

Ove 1940s

Patrik 1970s

Per 1960s

Peter 1960s

Ragnar 1910s

Robert 1970s

Roger 1960s

Roland 1940s

Rolf 1930s

Rune 1920s

Sebastian 1990s

Simon 1990s

Stefan 1960s

Sten 1930s

Stig 1930s

Sven 1930s

Thomas 1960s

Tobias 1990s

Tomas 1960s

Tommy 1950s

Torsten 1920s

Ulf 1960s

Valdemar 1900s

Vilhelm 1910s

William 2000s

Åke 1940s

Female

Agneta 1950s

Alice 1910s, 2000s

Amanda 1990s

Anette 1960s

Anita 1940s

Ann 1960s

Anna 1890s, 1970s

Annika 1960s

Astrid 1900s

Barbro 1930s

Berit 1930s

Birgit 1920s

Birgitta 1940s

Britt 1930s

Camilla 1970s

Carina 1960s

Caroline 1980s

Cecilia 1970s

Charlotta 1890s

Christina 1960s

Edit 1900s

Elin 1890s, 1990s

Elisabet 1890s

Elisabeth 1960s

Elsa 1890s, 2000s

Emma 1890s, 1990s

Ester 1890s

Eva 1950s

Greta 1910s

Gun 1930s

Gunborg 1920s

Gunhild 1900s

Gunilla 1940s

Gunvor 1930s

Hanna 1990s

Helena 1970s

Ida 1890s, 2000s

Inga 1920s

Ingeborg 1890s

Ingegerd 1920s

Ingegärd 1920s

Inger 1940s

Ingrid 1920s

Irene 1930s

Jenny 1970s

Johanna 1990s

Julia 1990s

Karin 1950s

Karolina 1890s

Katarina 1890s, 1960s

Kerstin 1940s

Kristina 1890s

Lena 1950s

Linda 1970s

Linnea 1900s, 1990s

Linnéa 1900s, 1990s

Lisa 1910s, 1990s

Louise 1990s

Maj 1920s

Malin 1970s

Margareta 1940s

Margit 1910s

Maria 1890s

Marie 1960s

Matilda 1890s, 2000s

Monica 1940s

Märta 1900s

Rut 1890s

Sara 1980s

Signe 1890s

Siv 1930s

Sofia 1890s, 1990s

Sonja 1930s

Susanne 1960s

Svea 1900s

Therese 1980s

Ulla 1930s

Ulrika 1970s

Viktoria 1890s

Viola 1910s

Yvonne 1950s

Åsa 1970s

Sources

Sture Allén, Staffan Wahlin, Förnamnsboken, Almqvist&Wiksell 1979, →ISBN
Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, →ISBN
Statistics Sweden Date of last access October 8, 2009

Rare names outside the Swedish given name categories

The origin of this list is not known. It may include errors and non-Swedish names.

Male

A

Abram

Agathon

Ahasverus

Amin

Amir

Andrzej

Angelus

Antonio

Frö

G

H

Hassan

Hussein

I

Ibrahim

Istvan

J

Janos

K

Karim

L

Lek

M

Moritz

N

O

Omar

P

R

Ral

Ramin

Reineke

Rol

S

Saam

Samir

Sandor

Selim

T

Tol

U

Udalricus

V

Vima

W

Willum

Wolfgang

Y

Yngvar

Yngve-Frej

Ynzve

Yrjö

Yusuf

Z

Zoltan

ziran

zohran

Zoran

Å

Åhl

Ö

Ödger

Öjar

Öjvind

Female

A

B

C

D

Danuta

E

F

Fatima

Fatma

Freyja

Frigg

G

H

I

J

Jadwiga

Jasmin

K

Katerina

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

Y

Yasmine

Yrsa

Yvette

Z

Å

Ä

Ärngunna

Ö

Ödgärd

Ödgun

Öllegård

Old Swedish and dialectal names

Male

Female

Adelheid

Adhelin

Aimée

Asgärd

Christ

Fiorentina

Fransiska

Jesca

Nerthus

Oleana

Olu

Rosemarie

Viviana

Swedish male hypocoristic forming

In Sweden (or Scandinavia in general) a typical Germanic hypocoristic pet form forming is to trunk the whole name, doubling (germinating) the end consonant, and put an E at the end. Kalle and Olle are such examples.

Whole name	Trunc form	Gemination	E-suffix	Hypocorism
Adolf	Ad-	dd	e	Adde
Åke	Ak-	kk, ck	e	Acke
Albert	A(l)b-	bb, ll	e	Abbe, Alle
Alfred	A(l)f-	ff	e	Affe
Anders	An-	nn	e	Anne
Birger	Bi(r)g-	gg	e	Bigge, Birre
Bo	Bo	ss	e	Bosse
Carl	Ca(r)l	ll	e	Calle
Daniel	Dan	nn	e	Danne
Gudmund	Gu(d)m-	mm	e	Gumme, Gudde
Hans	Ha(n)s-	ss	e	Hasse, Hanne
Karl	Ka(r)l-	ll	e	Kalle
Lars	La(r)	ss	e	Lasse
Lennart	Le	ll	e	Lelle
Olof	Ol-	ll	e	Olle
Per	Pe(r)	ll	e	Pelle
Sigbjörn	Si(g)b-	bb	e	Sibbe, Sigge
Sigurd	Sig-	gg	e	Sigge
Torbjörn	To(r)b-	bb	e	Tobbe
Torleif	To(r)l-	ll	e	Tolle
Vilhelm	Vil-	ll	e	Ville

References

Svenska förnamn, by Roland Otterbjörk, Esselte Studium, 2nd edition, Stockholm, 1975
Förnamn i Sverige, by Eva Brylla (Svenska språknämnden, 88), Liber AB, 1st edition, Malmö, 2004
Våra namn, by Ivar Wallensteen and Gunnar Brusewitz, Ica bokförlag (Forma Publishing Group AB), 4th edition, Falun, 2008
Nordic Names
Frequency search of given names in Sweden - includes names of linguistic minorities

Appendix:Swedish given names

About Swedish given names

The most common given names in Sweden 1890 - 2008

Male

Female

Sources

Rare names outside the Swedish given name categories

Male

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

Å

Ö

Female

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

Y

Z

Å

Ä

Ö

Old Swedish and dialectal names

Male

Female

Swedish male hypocoristic forming

References

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