Bertil
Meaning and origin
Medieval equivalent of modern German Berthold, from Germanic berht "bright" + wald "rule". First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1396.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Bertil (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Bertil has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2020. 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 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2006 | 6 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 11 |
| 2009 | 6 |
| 2010 | 14 |
| 2011 | 24 |
| 2012 | 17 |
| 2013 | 28 |
| 2014 | 36 |
| 2015 | 35 |
| 2016 | 32 |
| 2017 | 48 |
| 2018 | 32 |
| 2019 | 41 |
| 2020 | 49 |
| 2021 | 37 |
| 2022 | 36 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 19,885 |
| 2000 | 19,449 |
| 2001 | 19,084 |
| 2002 | 18,674 |
| 2003 | 18,272 |
| 2004 | 17,837 |
| 2005 | 17,361 |
| 2006 | 16,900 |
| 2007 | 16,385 |
| 2008 | 15,886 |
| 2009 | 15,352 |
| 2010 | 14,809 |
| 2011 | 14,270 |
| 2012 | 13,766 |
| 2013 | 13,266 |
| 2014 | 12,800 |
| 2015 | 12,345 |
| 2016 | 11,918 |
| 2017 | 11,469 |
| 2018 | 11,024 |
| 2019 | 10,603 |
| 2020 | 10,174 |
Bertil in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Bertil.Hi! My name is Bertil.
- Bertil bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Bertil lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Bertil har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Bertil has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Bertils mamma är lärare.Bertil's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Bertils mamma is Bertil's mum.
More names
Questions about Bertil
How do you pronounce Bertil in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Bertil from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Bertil mean?
Medieval equivalent of modern German Berthold, from Germanic berht "bright" + wald "rule". First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1396.
How popular is Bertil in Sweden?
36 babies were named Bertil in 2022. In 2020, 10,174 people in Sweden had Bertil as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2020 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.