Ilham
Meaning and origin
From Arabic إِلْهَام (ʔilhām).
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Ilham (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, Ilham has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2017. 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 | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | – | – |
| 1999 | – | – |
| 2000 | – | – |
| 2001 | – | – |
| 2002 | – | – |
| 2003 | – | – |
| 2004 | – | – |
| 2005 | 2 | – |
| 2006 | 3 | – |
| 2007 | 2 | – |
| 2008 | – | – |
| 2009 | 2 | – |
| 2010 | 4 | – |
| 2011 | 3 | – |
| 2012 | 3 | – |
| 2013 | 4 | – |
| 2014 | 2 | – |
| 2015 | 2 | – |
| 2016 | 3 | 2 |
| 2017 | 6 | – |
| 2018 | – | – |
| 2019 | – | – |
| 2020 | – | – |
| 2021 | – | – |
| 2022 | – | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 83 | – |
| 2000 | 96 | – |
| 2001 | 104 | – |
| 2002 | 113 | – |
| 2003 | 120 | – |
| 2004 | 125 | – |
| 2005 | 132 | – |
| 2006 | 146 | – |
| 2007 | 159 | – |
| 2008 | 179 | 10 |
| 2009 | 202 | 12 |
| 2010 | 210 | 12 |
| 2011 | 226 | 14 |
| 2012 | 242 | 15 |
| 2013 | 264 | 19 |
| 2014 | 278 | 21 |
| 2015 | 291 | 22 |
| 2016 | 320 | 25 |
| 2017 | 342 | 23 |
| 2018 | 360 | 24 |
| 2019 | 375 | 25 |
| 2020 | 377 | 25 |
Ilham in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ilham.Hi! My name is Ilham.
- Har du träffat Ilham? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Ilham? She started working here on Monday.
- Ilham har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Ilham has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Ilhams mamma är lärare.Ilham's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ilhams mamma is Ilham's mum.
More names
Questions about Ilham
How do you pronounce Ilham in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Ilham in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Ilham mean?
From Arabic إِلْهَام (ʔilhām).
How popular is Ilham in Sweden?
Fewer than two babies of either sex were named Ilham in 2022. In 2020, 402 people in Sweden had Ilham as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2017 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.