Adele
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from the Germanic languages. Borrowed from French Adèle, equivalent of Adela, from a Germanic root meaning “noble”. Compare athel, German edel, Old English æþele.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Adele (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Adele has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2016. 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 | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 8 |
| 2005 | 7 |
| 2006 | 4 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 10 |
| 2009 | 9 |
| 2010 | 9 |
| 2011 | 14 |
| 2012 | 44 |
| 2013 | 54 |
| 2014 | 89 |
| 2015 | 92 |
| 2016 | 124 |
| 2017 | 103 |
| 2018 | 68 |
| 2019 | 75 |
| 2020 | 64 |
| 2021 | 68 |
| 2022 | 88 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 209 |
| 2000 | 213 |
| 2001 | 207 |
| 2002 | 207 |
| 2003 | 203 |
| 2004 | 203 |
| 2005 | 205 |
| 2006 | 194 |
| 2007 | 195 |
| 2008 | 200 |
| 2009 | 199 |
| 2010 | 212 |
| 2011 | 222 |
| 2012 | 257 |
| 2013 | 303 |
| 2014 | 385 |
| 2015 | 476 |
| 2016 | 596 |
| 2017 | 696 |
| 2018 | 773 |
| 2019 | 859 |
| 2020 | 927 |
Adele in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Adele.Hi! My name is Adele.
- Adele har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Adele has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Adeles mamma är lärare.Adele's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Adeles mamma is Adele's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Adele
How do you pronounce Adele in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Adele in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Adele mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from the Germanic languages. Borrowed from French Adèle, equivalent of Adela, from a Germanic root meaning “noble”. Compare athel, German edel, Old English æþele.
How popular is Adele in Sweden?
88 babies were named Adele in 2022. In 2020, 927 people in Sweden had Adele as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2016 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.