Anita
Meaning and origin
From Spanish Anita. First recorded in Sweden in 1864.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Anita (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Anita has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2006. 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 | 10 |
| 2001 | 12 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2005 | 4 |
| 2006 | 13 |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2008 | 9 |
| 2009 | 5 |
| 2010 | 11 |
| 2011 | 4 |
| 2012 | 9 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2014 | 8 |
| 2015 | 5 |
| 2016 | 8 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 7 |
| 2022 | 5 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 27,622 |
| 2000 | 27,599 |
| 2001 | 27,639 |
| 2002 | 27,685 |
| 2003 | 27,868 |
| 2004 | 27,905 |
| 2005 | 27,722 |
| 2006 | 27,727 |
| 2007 | 27,656 |
| 2008 | 27,758 |
| 2009 | 27,625 |
| 2010 | 27,494 |
| 2011 | 27,354 |
| 2012 | 27,153 |
| 2013 | 26,932 |
| 2014 | 26,684 |
| 2015 | 26,410 |
| 2016 | 26,113 |
| 2017 | 25,822 |
| 2018 | 25,486 |
| 2019 | 25,104 |
| 2020 | 24,723 |
Anita in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Anita.Hi! My name is Anita.
- Har du träffat Anita? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Anita? She started working here on Monday.
- Jag ska fika med Anita i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Anita this afternoon.
- Anitas mamma är lärare.Anita's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Anitas mamma is Anita's mum.
More names
Questions about Anita
How do you pronounce Anita in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Anita from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Anita mean?
From Spanish Anita. First recorded in Sweden in 1864.
How popular is Anita in Sweden?
5 babies were named Anita in 2022. In 2020, 24,723 people in Sweden had Anita as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2006 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.