Lars
Meaning and origin
From Latin Laurentius. First recorded in Sweden in 1524. Cognate with English Laurence.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Lars (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Lars 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 | 35 |
| 1999 | 28 |
| 2000 | 22 |
| 2001 | 17 |
| 2002 | 13 |
| 2003 | 19 |
| 2004 | 11 |
| 2005 | 15 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 13 |
| 2008 | 4 |
| 2009 | 8 |
| 2010 | 9 |
| 2011 | 16 |
| 2012 | 18 |
| 2013 | 13 |
| 2014 | 13 |
| 2015 | 17 |
| 2016 | 17 |
| 2017 | 16 |
| 2018 | 18 |
| 2019 | 27 |
| 2020 | 23 |
| 2021 | 22 |
| 2022 | 18 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 122,793 |
| 2000 | 120,002 |
| 2001 | 117,420 |
| 2002 | 114,872 |
| 2003 | 112,518 |
| 2004 | 109,844 |
| 2005 | 107,605 |
| 2006 | 105,414 |
| 2007 | 103,966 |
| 2008 | 102,633 |
| 2009 | 101,339 |
| 2010 | 99,846 |
| 2011 | 98,439 |
| 2012 | 97,019 |
| 2013 | 95,474 |
| 2014 | 93,949 |
| 2015 | 92,327 |
| 2016 | 90,673 |
| 2017 | 89,009 |
| 2018 | 87,261 |
| 2019 | 85,475 |
| 2020 | 83,360 |
Lars in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Lars.Hi! My name is Lars.
- Lars ringde och sa att han blir lite sen.Lars called and said he'll be a bit late.
- Jag ska fika med Lars i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Lars this afternoon.
- Lars mamma är lärare.Lars's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Lars mamma is Lars's mum. Because Lars already ends in s, nothing is added.
More names
Questions about Lars
How do you pronounce Lars in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Lars from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Lars mean?
From Latin Laurentius. First recorded in Sweden in 1524. Cognate with English Laurence.
How popular is Lars in Sweden?
18 babies were named Lars in 2022. In 2020, 83,360 people in Sweden had Lars 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.