Oscar
Meaning and origin
From English Oscar, from Middle Irish Oscar. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1803.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Oscar (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Oscar has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1999. 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 | 639 |
| 1999 | 699 |
| 2000 | 590 |
| 2001 | 604 |
| 2002 | 650 |
| 2003 | 572 |
| 2004 | 624 |
| 2005 | 633 |
| 2006 | 636 |
| 2007 | 578 |
| 2008 | 584 |
| 2009 | 613 |
| 2010 | 669 |
| 2011 | 547 |
| 2012 | 570 |
| 2013 | 545 |
| 2014 | 482 |
| 2015 | 459 |
| 2016 | 587 |
| 2017 | 600 |
| 2018 | 465 |
| 2019 | 426 |
| 2020 | 453 |
| 2021 | 360 |
| 2022 | 322 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 10,401 |
| 2000 | 10,972 |
| 2001 | 11,601 |
| 2002 | 12,245 |
| 2003 | 12,838 |
| 2004 | 13,469 |
| 2005 | 14,081 |
| 2006 | 14,709 |
| 2007 | 15,284 |
| 2008 | 15,881 |
| 2009 | 16,495 |
| 2010 | 17,153 |
| 2011 | 17,690 |
| 2012 | 18,281 |
| 2013 | 18,856 |
| 2014 | 19,345 |
| 2015 | 19,812 |
| 2016 | 20,427 |
| 2017 | 21,043 |
| 2018 | 21,516 |
| 2019 | 21,935 |
| 2020 | 22,384 |
Oscar in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Oscar.Hi! My name is Oscar.
- Oscar bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Oscar lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Jag ska fika med Oscar i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Oscar this afternoon.
- Oscars mamma är lärare.Oscar's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Oscars mamma is Oscar's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Oscar
How do you pronounce Oscar in Swedish?
In IPA, Oscar is /¹ɔskar/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Oscar mean?
From English Oscar, from Middle Irish Oscar. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1803.
How popular is Oscar in Sweden?
322 babies were named Oscar in 2022. In 2020, 22,384 people in Sweden had Oscar as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 1999 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.