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Gustav

#3,685 in 2025Boys' name

Geat/Goth + staff

Gustav has been given to 4,267 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #3,685 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1917, with 99 recorded.

Babies named Gustav, 2025

1 in 111,000

Gustav over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gustav: meaning, origin, and history

Geat/Goth + staff

Germanic languages and Swedish

What Gustav means

Gustav means “Geat/Goth + staff”, associated with Gautr and stafr.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

A common royal name in Sweden, from Old Swedish Gøtstaf, from Old Norse Gautr (“Geat/Goth”) + stafr (“staff”). The oldest record in Sweden dates back to the year 1225 ("Gostauus"). In Peder Swart's chronicle about Gustav Vasa dated in the mid-1500s, the name is spelled Götstaff and is assumed to mean "Staff of the Geats."

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Gustav (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Gustav is used in English, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Faroese, German, Norwegian and Swedish. Its origins include Germanic languages and Swedish.

Gustav comes through Old Swedish Gøtstaf.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Czech, Gustav is pronounced [ˈɡustaf].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,267 boys were recorded with the name Gustav between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 99 in 1917; its best national rank was #242 in 1883.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #3,092 in 2020 to #3,685 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,335 in 2015 to #3,685 in 2025.

How common is Gustav?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 111,000
30 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 56,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,685
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
76,598 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gustav 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 2025 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 76,598 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gustav. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gustavs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gustav was born before 1931 — so the typical Gustav is around 94 today.

Median birth year
1931
About 94 years old
Biggest decade
1910s
16.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
17.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,645
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1910s — 16.9% of all recorded uses (723).

Is Gustav 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
−336
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−593
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+650
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.30×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
30.3%
Peak was 1917 (99)
Years since peak
108
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#242
1883

Spellings of Gustav

Gustav is not the most common spelling — Gustavo is, with 73.5% against Gustav's 7.8%.

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.

Where Gustav is used

Across 1910–2025, Gustav was most concentrated in North Dakota — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 93,886 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Dakota1 in 33,333
  2. 2New York1 in 33,333
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Minnesota1 in 50,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 50,000
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 50,000
  7. 7Wisconsin1 in 100,000
  8. 8California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Gustav has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Gustav around the world

Where Gustav 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.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2025
    #2,664
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2017–2022
    #703
    in 2022
  • France
    1909–2025
    #4,220
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #19
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1997–2023
    #2,436
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1952–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Gustav

People whose public names include Gustav, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Gustav in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Gustav. Linked forms have their own page here.

GusGustafGustaveGustavoGustavusGöstaKustiGustauGustawKustaaKyöstiGustaafGustaffGusztávKustavi

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Gustav by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,685
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 593
Best rank ever
#242
1883
Peak year
1917
99 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,267
Count in 2025
30

Names similar to Gustav

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

GustaveGussieGustafGustavoGustGusGussGustaboGustinGustavusGusterGustasGustieGustonGustyGustauoStavKaustav

Names with a curve like Gustav

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Gustav, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

OswaldJudgeOlafWashingtonAbeHendersonWinfieldWellingtonValentineGeneralOmerBenjiman

Sibling names for Gustav

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

Explore around Gustav

Top names of 1917, Gustav's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1883More old man namesBoys' names starting with GArtist NamesUncommon Swedish Boy Names