Tamara
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Hebrew, regularly used in English since the mid-twentieth century. Of Slavic origin, mainly from Russian Тама́ра (Tamára), name of a 12th-century saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, cognate with English biblical Tamar, from Hebrew תמר (tāmār, “date palm”).
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Tamara (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Tamara has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2010. 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 | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | 10 |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 9 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | 7 |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2008 | 7 |
| 2009 | 11 |
| 2010 | 13 |
| 2011 | 4 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | 5 |
| 2014 | 5 |
| 2015 | 7 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2017 | 7 |
| 2018 | 5 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 4 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 507 |
| 2000 | 528 |
| 2001 | 542 |
| 2002 | 566 |
| 2003 | 587 |
| 2004 | 608 |
| 2005 | 634 |
| 2006 | 665 |
| 2007 | 697 |
| 2008 | 729 |
| 2009 | 778 |
| 2010 | 798 |
| 2011 | 817 |
| 2012 | 841 |
| 2013 | 869 |
| 2014 | 897 |
| 2015 | 943 |
| 2016 | 982 |
| 2017 | 1,007 |
| 2018 | 1,023 |
| 2019 | 1,052 |
| 2020 | 1,079 |
Tamara in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Tamara.Hi! My name is Tamara.
- Tamara bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Tamara lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Tamara har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Tamara has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Tamaras mamma är lärare.Tamara's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Tamaras mamma is Tamara's mum.
More names
Questions about Tamara
How do you pronounce Tamara in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Tamara in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Tamara mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Hebrew, regularly used in English since the mid-twentieth century. Of Slavic origin, mainly from Russian Тама́ра (Tamára), name of a 12th-century saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, cognate with English biblical Tamar, from Hebrew תמר (tāmār, “date palm”).
How popular is Tamara in Sweden?
4 babies were named Tamara in 2022. In 2020, 1,079 people in Sweden had Tamara as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2010 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.