Gunnar
Meaning and origin
From Old Norse Gunnarr.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Gunnar (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Gunnar has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2014. 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 | 19 |
| 2001 | 15 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 14 |
| 2004 | 12 |
| 2005 | 14 |
| 2006 | 21 |
| 2007 | 21 |
| 2008 | 27 |
| 2009 | 32 |
| 2010 | 33 |
| 2011 | 30 |
| 2012 | 23 |
| 2013 | 55 |
| 2014 | 70 |
| 2015 | 58 |
| 2016 | 61 |
| 2017 | 58 |
| 2018 | 68 |
| 2019 | 49 |
| 2020 | 69 |
| 2021 | 67 |
| 2022 | 70 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 26,836 |
| 2000 | 26,195 |
| 2001 | 25,592 |
| 2002 | 25,023 |
| 2003 | 24,344 |
| 2004 | 23,799 |
| 2005 | 23,139 |
| 2006 | 22,526 |
| 2007 | 21,908 |
| 2008 | 21,283 |
| 2009 | 20,634 |
| 2010 | 20,009 |
| 2011 | 19,395 |
| 2012 | 18,745 |
| 2013 | 18,249 |
| 2014 | 17,732 |
| 2015 | 17,200 |
| 2016 | 16,678 |
| 2017 | 16,191 |
| 2018 | 15,744 |
| 2019 | 15,322 |
| 2020 | 14,850 |
Gunnar in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Gunnar.Hi! My name is Gunnar.
- Gunnar har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Gunnar has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Gunnar i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Gunnar this afternoon.
- Gunnars mamma är lärare.Gunnar's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Gunnars mamma is Gunnar's mum.
More names
Questions about Gunnar
How do you pronounce Gunnar in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Gunnar from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Gunnar mean?
From Old Norse Gunnarr.
How popular is Gunnar in Sweden?
70 babies were named Gunnar in 2022. In 2020, 14,850 people in Sweden had Gunnar as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2014 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.