Jonas
Meaning and origin
From the Ancient Greek equivalent of English Jonah, ultimately from Hebrew, also a short form of Johannes. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1303.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Jonas (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Jonas has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1998. 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 | 291 |
| 1999 | 204 |
| 2000 | 166 |
| 2001 | 155 |
| 2002 | 140 |
| 2003 | 133 |
| 2004 | 101 |
| 2005 | 90 |
| 2006 | 92 |
| 2007 | 75 |
| 2008 | 64 |
| 2009 | 80 |
| 2010 | 71 |
| 2011 | 67 |
| 2012 | 57 |
| 2013 | 65 |
| 2014 | 51 |
| 2015 | 52 |
| 2016 | 45 |
| 2017 | 40 |
| 2018 | 56 |
| 2019 | 47 |
| 2020 | 42 |
| 2021 | 53 |
| 2022 | 43 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 38,673 |
| 2000 | 39,002 |
| 2001 | 39,300 |
| 2002 | 39,606 |
| 2003 | 40,008 |
| 2004 | 40,239 |
| 2005 | 40,214 |
| 2006 | 40,328 |
| 2007 | 40,305 |
| 2008 | 40,394 |
| 2009 | 40,395 |
| 2010 | 40,334 |
| 2011 | 40,311 |
| 2012 | 40,267 |
| 2013 | 40,249 |
| 2014 | 40,239 |
| 2015 | 40,216 |
| 2016 | 40,214 |
| 2017 | 40,187 |
| 2018 | 40,198 |
| 2019 | 40,213 |
| 2020 | 40,186 |
Jonas in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Jonas.Hi! My name is Jonas.
- Jonas har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Jonas has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Jonas i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Jonas this afternoon.
- Jonas mamma är lärare.Jonas's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Jonas mamma is Jonas's mum. Because Jonas already ends in s, nothing is added.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Jonas
How do you pronounce Jonas in Swedish?
In IPA, Jonas is /juːnas/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Jonas mean?
From the Ancient Greek equivalent of English Jonah, ultimately from Hebrew, also a short form of Johannes. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1303.
How popular is Jonas in Sweden?
43 babies were named Jonas in 2022. In 2020, 40,186 people in Sweden had Jonas as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 1998 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.