Pål
Meaning and origin
From Old Swedish Paval, Paell, cognate with Norwegian Pål, Danish Povl and English Paul, from Latin Paulus.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Pål (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Pål has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2006. 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 | 2 |
| 2005 | 3 |
| 2006 | 4 |
| 2007 | 2 |
| 2008 | – |
| 2009 | – |
| 2010 | – |
| 2011 | – |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | – |
| 2014 | – |
| 2015 | – |
| 2016 | – |
| 2017 | – |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2021 | – |
| 2022 | 2 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 621 |
| 2000 | 613 |
| 2001 | 612 |
| 2002 | 604 |
| 2003 | 601 |
| 2004 | 594 |
| 2005 | 589 |
| 2006 | 596 |
| 2007 | 593 |
| 2008 | 587 |
| 2009 | 585 |
| 2010 | 590 |
| 2011 | 583 |
| 2012 | 574 |
| 2013 | 575 |
| 2014 | 570 |
| 2015 | 568 |
| 2016 | 564 |
| 2017 | 563 |
| 2018 | 556 |
| 2019 | 560 |
| 2020 | 558 |
Pål in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Pål.Hi! My name is Pål.
- Pål har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Pål has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Vet du om Pål kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Pål is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Påls mamma är lärare.Pål's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Påls mamma is Pål's mum.
More names
Questions about Pål
How do you pronounce Pål in Swedish?
In IPA, Pål is /ˈpoːl/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Pål mean?
From Old Swedish Paval, Paell, cognate with Norwegian Pål, Danish Povl and English Paul, from Latin Paulus.
How popular is Pål in Sweden?
2 babies were named Pål in 2022. In 2020, 558 people in Sweden had Pål as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2006 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.