Östen
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Old Norse. From Old Norse Eysteinn (compare Norwegian Øystein), from ey (“luck”) + steinn (“stone”).
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Östen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Östen has been rising 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 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | – |
| 2005 | – |
| 2006 | – |
| 2007 | – |
| 2008 | – |
| 2009 | – |
| 2010 | – |
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2012 | 3 |
| 2013 | 4 |
| 2014 | – |
| 2015 | – |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2017 | 5 |
| 2018 | – |
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2022 | 2 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,364 |
| 2000 | 1,330 |
| 2001 | 1,306 |
| 2002 | 1,288 |
| 2003 | 1,254 |
| 2004 | 1,247 |
| 2005 | 1,234 |
| 2006 | 1,215 |
| 2007 | 1,192 |
| 2008 | 1,164 |
| 2009 | 1,134 |
| 2010 | 1,113 |
| 2011 | 1,087 |
| 2012 | 1,053 |
| 2013 | 1,014 |
| 2014 | 978 |
| 2015 | 946 |
| 2016 | 915 |
| 2017 | 891 |
| 2018 | 855 |
| 2019 | 830 |
| 2020 | 805 |
Östen in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Östen.Hi! My name is Östen.
- Östen bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Östen lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Vet du om Östen kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Östen is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Östens mamma är lärare.Östen's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Östens mamma is Östen's mum.
More names
Questions about Östen
How do you pronounce Östen in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Östen in your device's Swedish voice. Ö is like the vowel in 'bird', said with rounded lips.
What does the name Östen mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Old Norse. From Old Norse Eysteinn (compare Norwegian Øystein), from ey (“luck”) + steinn (“stone”).
How popular is Östen in Sweden?
2 babies were named Östen in 2022. In 2020, 805 people in Sweden had Östen as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising 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.