Irma
Meaning and origin
From German Irma. First recorded in Sweden in 1868.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Irma (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Irma has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2008. 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 | 28 |
| 1999 | 33 |
| 2000 | 36 |
| 2001 | 59 |
| 2002 | 70 |
| 2003 | 70 |
| 2004 | 97 |
| 2005 | 90 |
| 2006 | 106 |
| 2007 | 110 |
| 2008 | 122 |
| 2009 | 111 |
| 2010 | 96 |
| 2011 | 76 |
| 2012 | 89 |
| 2013 | 78 |
| 2014 | 76 |
| 2015 | 57 |
| 2016 | 67 |
| 2017 | 60 |
| 2018 | 62 |
| 2019 | 66 |
| 2020 | 70 |
| 2021 | 73 |
| 2022 | 92 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 6,831 |
| 2000 | 6,630 |
| 2001 | 6,456 |
| 2002 | 6,260 |
| 2003 | 6,114 |
| 2004 | 6,005 |
| 2005 | 5,876 |
| 2006 | 5,747 |
| 2007 | 5,643 |
| 2008 | 5,533 |
| 2009 | 5,449 |
| 2010 | 5,355 |
| 2011 | 5,232 |
| 2012 | 5,145 |
| 2013 | 5,012 |
| 2014 | 4,932 |
| 2015 | 4,790 |
| 2016 | 4,692 |
| 2017 | 4,583 |
| 2018 | 4,479 |
| 2019 | 4,403 |
| 2020 | 4,316 |
Irma in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Irma.Hi! My name is Irma.
- Har du träffat Irma? Hon började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Irma? She started working here on Monday.
- Irma har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Irma has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Irmas mamma är lärare.Irma's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Irmas mamma is Irma's mum.
More names
Questions about Irma
How do you pronounce Irma in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Irma from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Irma mean?
From German Irma. First recorded in Sweden in 1868.
How popular is Irma in Sweden?
92 babies were named Irma in 2022. In 2020, 4,316 people in Sweden had Irma as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2008 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.