Ethel
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Old English, popular at the turn of the 20th century. Short form of names of Old English origin beginning with Ethel-, æþele (“noble”). First used in the 19th century. Cognate to the Germanic Adela and Adele.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Ethel (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, Ethel has been rising 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 | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 3 |
| 2005 | 3 |
| 2006 | – |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2008 | – |
| 2009 | 3 |
| 2010 | 5 |
| 2011 | 6 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 12 |
| 2014 | 7 |
| 2015 | 6 |
| 2016 | 9 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2020 | 16 |
| 2021 | 15 |
| 2022 | 9 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 2,358 |
| 2000 | 2,323 |
| 2001 | 2,269 |
| 2002 | 2,218 |
| 2003 | 2,164 |
| 2004 | 2,113 |
| 2005 | 2,045 |
| 2006 | 1,989 |
| 2007 | 1,940 |
| 2008 | 1,909 |
| 2009 | 1,837 |
| 2010 | 1,783 |
| 2011 | 1,722 |
| 2012 | 1,664 |
| 2013 | 1,609 |
| 2014 | 1,567 |
| 2015 | 1,514 |
| 2016 | 1,467 |
| 2017 | 1,406 |
| 2018 | 1,352 |
| 2019 | 1,312 |
| 2020 | 1,272 |
Ethel in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ethel.Hi! My name is Ethel.
- Ethel bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Ethel lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Jag ska fika med Ethel i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Ethel this afternoon.
- Ethels mamma är lärare.Ethel's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ethels mamma is Ethel's mum.
More names
Questions about Ethel
How do you pronounce Ethel in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Ethel in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Ethel mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Old English, popular at the turn of the 20th century. Short form of names of Old English origin beginning with Ethel-, æþele (“noble”). First used in the 19th century. Cognate to the Germanic Adela and Adele.
How popular is Ethel in Sweden?
9 babies were named Ethel in 2022. In 2020, 1,272 people in Sweden had Ethel as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising 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.