Ove
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from Denmark in the Middle Ages.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Ove (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Ove has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2010. 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 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 3 |
| 2005 | 2 |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 4 |
| 2009 | 8 |
| 2010 | 9 |
| 2011 | 8 |
| 2012 | 8 |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2014 | 4 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 5 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 4 |
| 2022 | 5 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 11,484 |
| 2000 | 11,412 |
| 2001 | 11,336 |
| 2002 | 11,228 |
| 2003 | 11,130 |
| 2004 | 11,058 |
| 2005 | 10,919 |
| 2006 | 10,805 |
| 2007 | 10,659 |
| 2008 | 10,486 |
| 2009 | 10,293 |
| 2010 | 10,148 |
| 2011 | 9,945 |
| 2012 | 9,744 |
| 2013 | 9,542 |
| 2014 | 9,352 |
| 2015 | 9,122 |
| 2016 | 8,925 |
| 2017 | 8,704 |
| 2018 | 8,504 |
| 2019 | 8,281 |
| 2020 | 8,047 |
Ove in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ove.Hi! My name is Ove.
- Ove ringde och sa att han blir lite sen.Ove called and said he'll be a bit late.
- Ove har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Ove has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Oves mamma är lärare.Ove's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Oves mamma is Ove's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Ove
How do you pronounce Ove in Swedish?
In IPA, Ove is /²uːvɛ/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Ove mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name borrowed from Denmark in the Middle Ages.
How popular is Ove in Sweden?
5 babies were named Ove in 2022. In 2020, 8,047 people in Sweden had Ove as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2010 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.