Cleo
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Ancient Greek. Shortened from Cleopatra or a variant of Clio. The rare male name derives from names of Ancient Greek origin such as Cleon and Cleopas.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Cleo (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, Cleo has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2021. 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 | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | – | – |
| 1999 | – | – |
| 2000 | – | – |
| 2001 | – | – |
| 2002 | – | – |
| 2003 | – | – |
| 2004 | 4 | – |
| 2005 | 3 | – |
| 2006 | 6 | – |
| 2007 | 6 | – |
| 2008 | 4 | – |
| 2009 | 17 | – |
| 2010 | 15 | – |
| 2011 | 11 | – |
| 2012 | 17 | – |
| 2013 | 23 | – |
| 2014 | 25 | – |
| 2015 | 40 | – |
| 2016 | 156 | 2 |
| 2017 | 153 | – |
| 2018 | 167 | – |
| 2019 | 171 | – |
| 2020 | 215 | – |
| 2021 | 223 | – |
| 2022 | 191 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 28 | – |
| 2000 | 30 | – |
| 2001 | 32 | – |
| 2002 | 35 | – |
| 2003 | 40 | – |
| 2004 | 44 | – |
| 2005 | 46 | – |
| 2006 | 51 | – |
| 2007 | 58 | – |
| 2008 | 64 | – |
| 2009 | 79 | – |
| 2010 | 95 | – |
| 2011 | 107 | – |
| 2012 | 128 | – |
| 2013 | 152 | – |
| 2014 | 172 | – |
| 2015 | 214 | – |
| 2016 | 374 | – |
| 2017 | 528 | – |
| 2018 | 697 | – |
| 2019 | 878 | – |
| 2020 | 1,100 | 10 |
Cleo in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Cleo.Hi! My name is Cleo.
- Cleo har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Cleo has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Cleo i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Cleo this afternoon.
- Cleos mamma är lärare.Cleo's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Cleos mamma is Cleo's mum.
More names
Questions about Cleo
How do you pronounce Cleo in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Cleo in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Cleo mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Ancient Greek. Shortened from Cleopatra or a variant of Clio. The rare male name derives from names of Ancient Greek origin such as Cleon and Cleopas.
How popular is Cleo in Sweden?
191 babies were named Cleo in 2022. In 2020, 1,110 people in Sweden had Cleo as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2021 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.