Pontus
Meaning and origin
Brought to Sweden by the French soldier Pontus De La Gardie (~1520-1585), originally Ponce, from the saint's name Pontius.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Pontus (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Pontus has been falling 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 | 471 |
| 1999 | 411 |
| 2000 | 368 |
| 2001 | 339 |
| 2002 | 334 |
| 2003 | 325 |
| 2004 | 296 |
| 2005 | 214 |
| 2006 | 201 |
| 2007 | 166 |
| 2008 | 133 |
| 2009 | 112 |
| 2010 | 104 |
| 2011 | 110 |
| 2012 | 95 |
| 2013 | 71 |
| 2014 | 67 |
| 2015 | 44 |
| 2016 | 51 |
| 2017 | 33 |
| 2018 | 25 |
| 2019 | 22 |
| 2020 | 20 |
| 2021 | 21 |
| 2022 | 15 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 10,237 |
| 2000 | 10,632 |
| 2001 | 11,003 |
| 2002 | 11,346 |
| 2003 | 11,713 |
| 2004 | 12,038 |
| 2005 | 12,226 |
| 2006 | 12,418 |
| 2007 | 12,571 |
| 2008 | 12,748 |
| 2009 | 12,844 |
| 2010 | 12,929 |
| 2011 | 13,016 |
| 2012 | 13,090 |
| 2013 | 13,134 |
| 2014 | 13,171 |
| 2015 | 13,206 |
| 2016 | 13,252 |
| 2017 | 13,259 |
| 2018 | 13,258 |
| 2019 | 13,261 |
| 2020 | 13,287 |
Pontus in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Pontus.Hi! My name is Pontus.
- Pontus har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Pontus has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Pontus mamma är lärare.Pontus's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Pontus mamma is Pontus's mum. Because Pontus already ends in s, nothing is added.
More names
Questions about Pontus
How do you pronounce Pontus in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Pontus from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Pontus mean?
Brought to Sweden by the French soldier Pontus De La Gardie (~1520-1585), originally Ponce, from the saint's name Pontius.
How popular is Pontus in Sweden?
15 babies were named Pontus in 2022. In 2020, 13,287 people in Sweden had Pontus as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling 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.