Pelle
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a diminutive of the male given names Per, Pär, and Peter.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Pelle (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Pelle has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2021. 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 | 27 |
| 1999 | 26 |
| 2000 | 24 |
| 2001 | 21 |
| 2002 | 38 |
| 2003 | 42 |
| 2004 | 35 |
| 2005 | 44 |
| 2006 | 50 |
| 2007 | 50 |
| 2008 | 46 |
| 2009 | 49 |
| 2010 | 63 |
| 2011 | 68 |
| 2012 | 57 |
| 2013 | 60 |
| 2014 | 61 |
| 2015 | 63 |
| 2016 | 49 |
| 2017 | 50 |
| 2018 | 59 |
| 2019 | 52 |
| 2020 | 63 |
| 2021 | 79 |
| 2022 | 47 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 580 |
| 2000 | 609 |
| 2001 | 644 |
| 2002 | 695 |
| 2003 | 757 |
| 2004 | 800 |
| 2005 | 844 |
| 2006 | 903 |
| 2007 | 963 |
| 2008 | 1,049 |
| 2009 | 1,112 |
| 2010 | 1,189 |
| 2011 | 1,271 |
| 2012 | 1,357 |
| 2013 | 1,423 |
| 2014 | 1,502 |
| 2015 | 1,576 |
| 2016 | 1,636 |
| 2017 | 1,707 |
| 2018 | 1,783 |
| 2019 | 1,854 |
| 2020 | 1,935 |
Pelle in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Pelle.Hi! My name is Pelle.
- Pelle bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Pelle lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Jag ska fika med Pelle i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Pelle this afternoon.
- Pelles mamma är lärare.Pelle's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Pelles mamma is Pelle's mum.
More names
Questions about Pelle
How do you pronounce Pelle in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Pelle from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Pelle mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a diminutive of the male given names Per, Pär, and Peter.
How popular is Pelle in Sweden?
47 babies were named Pelle in 2022. In 2020, 1,935 people in Sweden had Pelle as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2021 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.