Ylva
Meaning and origin
From Old Norse ylfa, a feminine equivalent of Old Norse Ulfr and Swedish Ulf.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Ylva (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Ylva has been fairly steady 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 | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 37 |
| 1999 | 40 |
| 2000 | 32 |
| 2001 | 52 |
| 2002 | 49 |
| 2003 | 62 |
| 2004 | 41 |
| 2005 | 32 |
| 2006 | 42 |
| 2007 | 51 |
| 2008 | 41 |
| 2009 | 58 |
| 2010 | 46 |
| 2011 | 39 |
| 2012 | 48 |
| 2013 | 56 |
| 2014 | 47 |
| 2015 | 62 |
| 2016 | 57 |
| 2017 | 55 |
| 2018 | 39 |
| 2019 | 67 |
| 2020 | 62 |
| 2021 | 51 |
| 2022 | 65 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 7,287 |
| 2000 | 7,297 |
| 2001 | 7,320 |
| 2002 | 7,325 |
| 2003 | 7,362 |
| 2004 | 7,369 |
| 2005 | 7,365 |
| 2006 | 7,364 |
| 2007 | 7,378 |
| 2008 | 7,392 |
| 2009 | 7,414 |
| 2010 | 7,424 |
| 2011 | 7,436 |
| 2012 | 7,463 |
| 2013 | 7,487 |
| 2014 | 7,505 |
| 2015 | 7,501 |
| 2016 | 7,522 |
| 2017 | 7,558 |
| 2018 | 7,536 |
| 2019 | 7,555 |
| 2020 | 7,566 |
Ylva in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ylva.Hi! My name is Ylva.
- Ylva ringde och sa att hon blir lite sen.Ylva called and said she'll be a bit late.
- Ylva har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Ylva has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Ylvas mamma är lärare.Ylva's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ylvas mamma is Ylva's mum.
More names
Questions about Ylva
How do you pronounce Ylva in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Ylva from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Ylva mean?
From Old Norse ylfa, a feminine equivalent of Old Norse Ulfr and Swedish Ulf.
How popular is Ylva in Sweden?
65 babies were named Ylva in 2022. In 2020, 7,566 people in Sweden had Ylva as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady 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.