Birger

Boys' name

Helper

Birger has been given to 34 babies in the U.S. since 1911. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1917, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Birger, 1940

1 in 461,000

Birger over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Birger: meaning, origin, and history

Helper

Old Norse

What Birger means

Birger means “helper”, associated with Birgir.

Origin, language, and formation

Birger is used in Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish. Its origins include Old Norse.

Birger comes through Old Norse Birgir.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Byrge.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 34 boys were recorded with the name Birger between 1911 and 1940. Its highest annual count was 8 in 1917; its best national rank was #1,555 in 1911.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Birger?

Birger had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1940, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1940: 1 in 461,000; 5 of 2,302,666 births
Among boys only: 1 in 232,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1940: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 319,218 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Birger sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1940 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 319,218 children born in 1940 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Birger. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Birgers were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Birger was born before 1917 — so the typical Birger is around 108 today.

Median birth year: 1917; About 108 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 55.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 67.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 55.9% of all recorded uses (19).

Is Birger rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1917 (8)
Years since peak: 108; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #1,555; 1911

Spellings of Birger

Birger is not the most common spelling — Bridger is, with 54.8% against Birger's 0.27%.

Bridger54.8%6,873
Bryer20.7%2,600
Tiger9.9%1,248
Virgel9.5%1,187
Brier4.9%611
Birger0.27%34

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Birger around the world

Where Birger ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

Norway
1880–2025
#483
in 2025

Popularity data from Statistics Norway. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Birger by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,555; 1911
Peak year: 1917; 8 that year
First recorded: 1911
Last recorded: 1940
All-time count: 34
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Birger

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Dagger Trager Birney Ridger Danger Birdie Biruk Birdell Seager Ginger Dodger Touger Jayger Berger Rueger Birk Birch Birche Rutger Elger Cager Biran Birchel Pledger

Sibling names for Birger

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Albina Nelle Orpha Antonette Harriette Winnifred Maurine Johnie

For a brother

Regis Meyer Rosario Lyman Winfield Dorsey Granville Abe

Explore around Birger

Top names of 1917, Birger's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1911 Boys' names starting with B Uncommon Swedish Boy Names