Guy
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from the Germanic languages. From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Guy (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
Few babies have been given the name since 1998; it belongs mostly to older generations. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 502 |
| 2000 | 504 |
| 2001 | 507 |
| 2002 | 495 |
| 2003 | 503 |
| 2004 | 500 |
| 2005 | 499 |
| 2006 | 491 |
| 2007 | 484 |
| 2008 | 485 |
| 2009 | 482 |
| 2010 | 473 |
| 2011 | 462 |
| 2012 | 457 |
| 2013 | 455 |
| 2014 | 456 |
| 2015 | 455 |
| 2016 | 452 |
| 2017 | 451 |
| 2018 | 444 |
| 2019 | 442 |
| 2020 | 432 |
Guy in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Guy.Hi! My name is Guy.
- Guy har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Guy has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Guy i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Guy this afternoon.
- Guys mamma är lärare.Guy's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Guys mamma is Guy's mum.
More names
Questions about Guy
How do you pronounce Guy in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Guy in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Guy mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from the Germanic languages. From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.
How popular is Guy in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Guy in 2022. In 2020, 432 people in Sweden had Guy as the first name they go by.
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.