Erna
Meaning and origin
From German Erna. First recorded in Sweden in 1697.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Erna (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Erna has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2004. 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 | 11 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 12 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2006 | 10 |
| 2007 | 10 |
| 2008 | 5 |
| 2009 | 7 |
| 2010 | 4 |
| 2011 | 3 |
| 2012 | 5 |
| 2013 | 4 |
| 2014 | 7 |
| 2015 | 6 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2017 | 5 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 4 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 2,108 |
| 2000 | 2,057 |
| 2001 | 2,020 |
| 2002 | 1,962 |
| 2003 | 1,928 |
| 2004 | 1,880 |
| 2005 | 1,834 |
| 2006 | 1,805 |
| 2007 | 1,760 |
| 2008 | 1,723 |
| 2009 | 1,673 |
| 2010 | 1,624 |
| 2011 | 1,570 |
| 2012 | 1,522 |
| 2013 | 1,460 |
| 2014 | 1,417 |
| 2015 | 1,364 |
| 2016 | 1,318 |
| 2017 | 1,272 |
| 2018 | 1,234 |
| 2019 | 1,201 |
| 2020 | 1,164 |
Erna in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Erna.Hi! My name is Erna.
- Erna bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Erna lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Jag ska fika med Erna i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Erna this afternoon.
- Ernas mamma är lärare.Erna's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ernas mamma is Erna's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Erna
How do you pronounce Erna in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Erna from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Erna mean?
From German Erna. First recorded in Sweden in 1697.
How popular is Erna in Sweden?
4 babies were named Erna in 2022. In 2020, 1,164 people in Sweden had Erna as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2004 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.