Per
Meaning and origin
From Latin Petrus. First recorded in Sweden in 1428.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Per (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Per 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 | 59 |
| 1999 | 54 |
| 2000 | 38 |
| 2001 | 33 |
| 2002 | 42 |
| 2003 | 41 |
| 2004 | 24 |
| 2005 | 24 |
| 2006 | 21 |
| 2007 | 23 |
| 2008 | 15 |
| 2009 | 25 |
| 2010 | 15 |
| 2011 | 21 |
| 2012 | 10 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2014 | 14 |
| 2015 | 7 |
| 2016 | 6 |
| 2017 | 5 |
| 2018 | 8 |
| 2019 | 9 |
| 2020 | 7 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 3 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 83,363 |
| 2000 | 80,990 |
| 2001 | 78,858 |
| 2002 | 76,703 |
| 2003 | 74,783 |
| 2004 | 72,611 |
| 2005 | 70,825 |
| 2006 | 69,176 |
| 2007 | 68,086 |
| 2008 | 67,164 |
| 2009 | 66,348 |
| 2010 | 65,426 |
| 2011 | 64,571 |
| 2012 | 63,658 |
| 2013 | 62,712 |
| 2014 | 61,784 |
| 2015 | 60,876 |
| 2016 | 60,053 |
| 2017 | 59,145 |
| 2018 | 58,141 |
| 2019 | 57,125 |
| 2020 | 55,952 |
Per in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Per.Hi! My name is Per.
- Har du träffat Per? Han började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Per? He started working here on Monday.
- Vet du om Per kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Per is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Pers mamma är lärare.Per's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Pers mamma is Per's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Per
How do you pronounce Per in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Per from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Per mean?
From Latin Petrus. First recorded in Sweden in 1428.
How popular is Per in Sweden?
3 babies were named Per in 2022. In 2020, 55,952 people in Sweden had Per 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.