William
Meaning and origin
Borrowed from English William. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1675. Cognate with Swedish Vilhelm.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for William (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, William has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2004. 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 | 823 |
| 1999 | 940 |
| 2000 | 1,095 |
| 2001 | 975 |
| 2002 | 995 |
| 2003 | 1,215 |
| 2004 | 1,238 |
| 2005 | 1,115 |
| 2006 | 1,092 |
| 2007 | 1,138 |
| 2008 | 963 |
| 2009 | 989 |
| 2010 | 1,018 |
| 2011 | 1,017 |
| 2012 | 893 |
| 2013 | 896 |
| 2014 | 830 |
| 2015 | 961 |
| 2016 | 831 |
| 2017 | 918 |
| 2018 | 846 |
| 2019 | 725 |
| 2020 | 729 |
| 2021 | 714 |
| 2022 | 674 |
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 | – | 6,392 |
| 2000 | – | 7,472 |
| 2001 | – | 8,460 |
| 2002 | – | 9,467 |
| 2003 | – | 10,668 |
| 2004 | – | 11,884 |
| 2005 | – | 12,969 |
| 2006 | – | 14,027 |
| 2007 | – | 15,140 |
| 2008 | – | 16,166 |
| 2009 | – | 17,176 |
| 2010 | – | 18,228 |
| 2011 | – | 19,263 |
| 2012 | – | 20,172 |
| 2013 | – | 21,084 |
| 2014 | – | 21,945 |
| 2015 | – | 22,925 |
| 2016 | – | 23,799 |
| 2017 | 10 | 24,759 |
| 2018 | 18 | 25,651 |
| 2019 | 22 | 26,388 |
| 2020 | 30 | 27,145 |
William in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter William.Hi! My name is William.
- William har bott i Uppsala i tre år.William has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Vet du om William kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if William is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Williams mamma är lärare.William's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Williams mamma is William's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about William
How do you pronounce William in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear William in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name William mean?
Borrowed from English William. First recorded as a Swedish given name in 1675. Cognate with Swedish Vilhelm.
How popular is William in Sweden?
674 babies were named William in 2022. In 2020, 27,175 people in Sweden had William as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2004 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.