Gösta
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name, variant of Gustav.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Gösta (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Gösta 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 | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 5 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2008 | 17 |
| 2009 | 17 |
| 2010 | 28 |
| 2011 | 14 |
| 2012 | 25 |
| 2013 | 16 |
| 2014 | 22 |
| 2015 | 26 |
| 2016 | 21 |
| 2017 | 32 |
| 2018 | 27 |
| 2019 | 30 |
| 2020 | 40 |
| 2021 | 33 |
| 2022 | 33 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 14,052 |
| 2000 | 13,443 |
| 2001 | 12,860 |
| 2002 | 12,247 |
| 2003 | 11,678 |
| 2004 | 11,146 |
| 2005 | 10,612 |
| 2006 | 10,066 |
| 2007 | 9,520 |
| 2008 | 8,976 |
| 2009 | 8,496 |
| 2010 | 8,046 |
| 2011 | 7,598 |
| 2012 | 7,203 |
| 2013 | 6,808 |
| 2014 | 6,433 |
| 2015 | 6,077 |
| 2016 | 5,747 |
| 2017 | 5,398 |
| 2018 | 5,063 |
| 2019 | 4,790 |
| 2020 | 4,499 |
Gösta in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Gösta.Hi! My name is Gösta.
- Har du träffat Gösta? Han började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Gösta? He started working here on Monday.
- Vet du om Gösta kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Gösta is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Göstas mamma är lärare.Gösta's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Göstas mamma is Gösta's mum.
More names
Questions about Gösta
How do you pronounce Gösta in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Gösta from a native speaker's recording. Ö is like the vowel in 'bird', said with rounded lips.
What does the name Gösta mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name, variant of Gustav.
How popular is Gösta in Sweden?
33 babies were named Gösta in 2022. In 2020, 4,499 people in Sweden had Gösta 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.