TOP TEN: These are the most popular baby names in Sweden

If a Swede had a baby girl in 2022, chances are they named her Astrid.

The name – whose most famous holder was perhaps late children’s author Astrid Lindgren – overtook Alice as the most popular name given to newborn girls, according to Statistics Sweden. Alice had held on to the top spot for six years in a row.

William was the most popular name for boys, but Nils saw the biggest increase when it climbed ten spots to end up in seventh place.

Statistics Sweden points out that although it doesn’t do any research on why certain names are more popular than others, the rise of Nilses in Sweden coincided with ice-skater Nils van der Poel’s sporting mega successes in 2022.

“It’s the first time Nils is on the top-ten list since Statistics Sweden started publishing name statistics in 1998,” said Statistics Sweden analyst Guadalupe Andersson.

This is the last year the agency publishes statistics on names in Sweden.

It said that the decision to stop the popular lists was a result of “a strained economic situation” and that it had to prioritise publishing official statistics instead.

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Official statistics are statistics which Swedish authorities must produce and make available by law, for the purposes of general information, investigation and research. The subject areas are regulated by the government, and you can find all of them here.

The Swedish Tax Agency also publishes name statistics, but for the entire population, not newborns.

Here are Sweden’s most popular girls’ names in 2022, and how many newborns were given the name:

1. Astrid (603)

2. Maja (601)

3. Alma (596)

4. Vera (592)

5. Freja (584)

6. Leah (507)

7. Ella (563)

8. Alice (552)

9. Selma (540)

10. Lilly (530)

Boys:

1. William (690)

2. Liam (679)

3. Noah (677)

4. Hugo (643)

5. Oliver (629)

6. Lucas (616)

7. Nils (579)

8. Matteo (571)

9. Valter (566)

10. August (565)