Sven
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Old Norse. Inherited from Old Norse Sveinn; borne by three medieval kings of Denmark. Cognate with Faroese Sveinur, Icelandic Sveinn, Danish Svend, Norwegian Nynorsk Svein, and English Sweyn. Doublet of Soini.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Sven (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Sven has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2019. 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 | 13 |
| 1999 | 18 |
| 2000 | 11 |
| 2001 | 13 |
| 2002 | 20 |
| 2003 | 16 |
| 2004 | 20 |
| 2005 | 14 |
| 2006 | 32 |
| 2007 | 20 |
| 2008 | 19 |
| 2009 | 29 |
| 2010 | 16 |
| 2011 | 33 |
| 2012 | 48 |
| 2013 | 32 |
| 2014 | 36 |
| 2015 | 45 |
| 2016 | 57 |
| 2017 | 53 |
| 2018 | 49 |
| 2019 | 58 |
| 2020 | 35 |
| 2021 | 34 |
| 2022 | 36 |
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 | 11 | 73,518 |
| 2000 | 10 | 70,507 |
| 2001 | – | 67,627 |
| 2002 | – | 64,711 |
| 2003 | – | 61,990 |
| 2004 | – | 59,343 |
| 2005 | – | 56,886 |
| 2006 | – | 54,588 |
| 2007 | – | 52,641 |
| 2008 | – | 50,826 |
| 2009 | – | 49,000 |
| 2010 | – | 47,251 |
| 2011 | – | 45,518 |
| 2012 | – | 43,752 |
| 2013 | – | 42,050 |
| 2014 | – | 40,402 |
| 2015 | – | 38,865 |
| 2016 | – | 37,310 |
| 2017 | – | 35,852 |
| 2018 | – | 34,283 |
| 2019 | – | 32,785 |
| 2020 | – | 31,115 |
Sven in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Sven.Hi! My name is Sven.
- Sven bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Sven lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Jag ska fika med Sven i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Sven this afternoon.
- Svens mamma är lärare.Sven's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Svens mamma is Sven's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Sven
How do you pronounce Sven in Swedish?
In IPA, Sven is /svɛn/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Sven mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Old Norse. Inherited from Old Norse Sveinn; borne by three medieval kings of Denmark. Cognate with Faroese Sveinur, Icelandic Sveinn, Danish Svend, Norwegian Nynorsk Svein, and English Sweyn. Doublet of Soini.
How popular is Sven in Sweden?
36 babies were named Sven in 2022. In 2020, 31,115 people in Sweden had Sven as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2019 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.