James
Meaning and origin
From English James in the 19th century.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for James (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, James has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2016. 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 | 24 |
| 1999 | 16 |
| 2000 | 18 |
| 2001 | 12 |
| 2002 | 20 |
| 2003 | 15 |
| 2004 | 14 |
| 2005 | 17 |
| 2006 | 31 |
| 2007 | 37 |
| 2008 | 30 |
| 2009 | 33 |
| 2010 | 52 |
| 2011 | 51 |
| 2012 | 48 |
| 2013 | 67 |
| 2014 | 58 |
| 2015 | 65 |
| 2016 | 73 |
| 2017 | 64 |
| 2018 | 69 |
| 2019 | 65 |
| 2020 | 71 |
| 2021 | 54 |
| 2022 | 38 |
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 | – | 1,227 |
| 2000 | – | 1,260 |
| 2001 | – | 1,288 |
| 2002 | – | 1,321 |
| 2003 | – | 1,360 |
| 2004 | – | 1,370 |
| 2005 | – | 1,402 |
| 2006 | – | 1,422 |
| 2007 | – | 1,472 |
| 2008 | – | 1,543 |
| 2009 | – | 1,620 |
| 2010 | – | 1,692 |
| 2011 | – | 1,771 |
| 2012 | – | 1,854 |
| 2013 | – | 1,954 |
| 2014 | – | 2,074 |
| 2015 | – | 2,174 |
| 2016 | – | 2,269 |
| 2017 | – | 2,384 |
| 2018 | – | 2,517 |
| 2019 | 10 | 2,622 |
| 2020 | 14 | 2,720 |
James in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter James.Hi! My name is James.
- James bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.James lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Jag ska fika med James i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with James this afternoon.
- James mamma är lärare.James's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: James mamma is James's mum. Because James already ends in s, nothing is added.
More names
Questions about James
How do you pronounce James in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear James in your device's Swedish voice. J is said like the English y.
What does the name James mean?
From English James in the 19th century.
How popular is James in Sweden?
38 babies were named James in 2022. In 2020, 2,734 people in Sweden had James as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2016 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.