Åke
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name popular in the twentieth century. From Old Norse Áki, diminutive of Proto-Norse *ᚨᚾᚢᛉ (*anuʀ, “ancestor”), from Proto-Germanic *anô (as in the first part of the name Olaf). By folk etymology sometimes associated with Swedish åka (“ride”), as in Åke-Tor, an epithet of the thunder god Thor. Formerly an eastern Danish name (in what is now southern Sweden) restricted to the gentry. Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Aage, Åge.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Åke (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Åke has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2014. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | 13 |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | 10 |
| 2003 | 10 |
| 2004 | 13 |
| 2005 | 17 |
| 2006 | 19 |
| 2007 | 14 |
| 2008 | 22 |
| 2009 | 13 |
| 2010 | 24 |
| 2011 | 24 |
| 2012 | 24 |
| 2013 | 26 |
| 2014 | 36 |
| 2015 | 30 |
| 2016 | 21 |
| 2017 | 28 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2019 | 27 |
| 2020 | 17 |
| 2021 | 23 |
| 2022 | 25 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 24,983 |
| 2000 | 24,461 |
| 2001 | 23,930 |
| 2002 | 23,433 |
| 2003 | 22,874 |
| 2004 | 22,349 |
| 2005 | 21,793 |
| 2006 | 21,260 |
| 2007 | 20,677 |
| 2008 | 20,127 |
| 2009 | 19,492 |
| 2010 | 18,860 |
| 2011 | 18,286 |
| 2012 | 17,692 |
| 2013 | 17,081 |
| 2014 | 16,544 |
| 2015 | 16,002 |
| 2016 | 15,438 |
| 2017 | 14,970 |
| 2018 | 14,424 |
| 2019 | 13,910 |
| 2020 | 13,345 |
Åke in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Åke.Hi! My name is Åke.
- Åke har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Åke has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Vet du om Åke kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Åke is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Åkes mamma är lärare.Åke's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Åkes mamma is Åke's mum.
More names
Questions about Åke
How do you pronounce Åke in Swedish?
In IPA, Åke is /ˈoːˌkɛ/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Åke mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name popular in the twentieth century. From Old Norse Áki, diminutive of Proto-Norse *ᚨᚾᚢᛉ (*anuʀ, “ancestor”), from Proto-Germanic *anô (as in the first part of the name Olaf). By folk etymology sometimes associated with Swedish åka (“ride”), as in Åke-Tor, an epithet of the thunder god Thor. Formerly an eastern Danish name (in what is now southern Sweden) restricted to the gentry. Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Aage, Åge.
How popular is Åke in Sweden?
25 babies were named Åke in 2022. In 2020, 13,345 people in Sweden had Åke as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2014 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.