Samuel
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Samuel.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Samuel (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Samuel has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 1999. 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 | 483 |
| 1999 | 601 |
| 2000 | 587 |
| 2001 | 518 |
| 2002 | 499 |
| 2003 | 462 |
| 2004 | 402 |
| 2005 | 361 |
| 2006 | 382 |
| 2007 | 323 |
| 2008 | 301 |
| 2009 | 280 |
| 2010 | 243 |
| 2011 | 252 |
| 2012 | 260 |
| 2013 | 248 |
| 2014 | 222 |
| 2015 | 218 |
| 2016 | 175 |
| 2017 | 197 |
| 2018 | 195 |
| 2019 | 162 |
| 2020 | 164 |
| 2021 | 139 |
| 2022 | 159 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | – | 5,337 |
| 2000 | – | 5,914 |
| 2001 | – | 6,480 |
| 2002 | – | 7,006 |
| 2003 | – | 7,515 |
| 2004 | – | 7,928 |
| 2005 | – | 8,254 |
| 2006 | – | 8,670 |
| 2007 | – | 9,023 |
| 2008 | – | 9,380 |
| 2009 | – | 9,704 |
| 2010 | – | 9,965 |
| 2011 | – | 10,252 |
| 2012 | – | 10,548 |
| 2013 | – | 10,821 |
| 2014 | – | 11,140 |
| 2015 | 11 | 11,447 |
| 2016 | 14 | 11,736 |
| 2017 | 14 | 12,037 |
| 2018 | 21 | 12,286 |
| 2019 | 24 | 12,512 |
| 2020 | 23 | 12,737 |
Samuel in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Samuel.Hi! My name is Samuel.
- Har du träffat Samuel? Han började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Samuel? He started working here on Monday.
- Samuel har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Samuel has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Samuels mamma är lärare.Samuel's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Samuels mamma is Samuel's mum.
More names
Questions about Samuel
How do you pronounce Samuel in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Samuel from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Samuel mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Hebrew, equivalent to English Samuel.
How popular is Samuel in Sweden?
159 babies were named Samuel in 2022. In 2020, 12,760 people in Sweden had Samuel as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 1999 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.