Name Awesome

Sven

#3,644 in 2025Boys' name

Boy, servant, through Sveinn

Sven has been given to 2,517 babies in the U.S. since 1911. In 2025 it ranked #3,644 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 58 recorded.

Babies named Sven, 2025

1 in 107,000

Sven over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sven: meaning, origin, and history

Boy, servant, through Sveinn

Swedish and Old Norse

What Sven means

Sven belongs to the name family reached through Sven → Sven → Sveinn. Its meaning is “boy, servant”.

Origin, language, and formation

Sven is used in English, Dutch, Estonian, German, Norwegian and Swedish. Its origins include Swedish and Old Norse.

Sven comes through Swedish Sven.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Svein, Sveinur, Sveinn, Svend, Sweyn, Soini and Sven.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Dutch, Sven is pronounced /sʋɛn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,517 boys were recorded with the name Sven between 1911 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 58 in 2015; its best national rank was #1,113 in 1967.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,461 in 2020 to #3,644 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,292 in 2015 to #3,644 in 2025.

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 Sven?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 107,000
31 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 55,100
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,644
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
74,127 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sven 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 74,127 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sven. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Svens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sven was born before 1989 — so the typical Sven is around 36 today.

Median birth year
1989
About 36 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
16.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
37.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,221
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 16.6% of all recorded uses (418).

Is Sven 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
−1,014
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,183
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,352
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.53×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
53.4%
Peak was 2015 (58)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,113
1967

Spellings of Sven

Sven is not the most common spelling — Steven is, with 44.4% against Sven's 0.09%.

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 Sven is used

Across 1910–2025, Sven was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 214,245 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 100,000
  3. 3New York1 in 100,000
  4. 4Washington1 in 100,000
  5. 5Connecticut1 in —
  6. 6Florida1 in —
  7. 7Illinois1 in —
  8. 8Massachusetts1 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. Sven has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Sven around the world

Where Sven 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
    1996–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024
  • France
    1953–2025
    #1,726
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #274
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1999–2023
    #2,747
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1955–2008
    #726
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS 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 Sven

People whose public names include Sven, 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.

Sven in other languages

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

SwenSvendSveinSvennSvenoSvensSveinn

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

Sven by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,644
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,183
Best rank ever
#1,113
1967
Peak year
2015
58 that year
First recorded
1911
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,517
Count in 2025
31

Names similar to Sven

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

AvenDavenIvenRavenSevenJavenTavenGavenHavenEvenAyvenJayvenKavenKevenDevenZavenReuvenMavenBravenAivenNevenDravenTravenTayven

Names with a curve like Sven

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

ThaneNinoDietrichRenatoPietroThorGeronimoMickFlintDomenicoMannyMarlo

Sibling names for Sven

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 Sven

Top names of 2015, Sven's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1967Boys' names starting with SDutch Boy NamesNorse & Viking NamesNorwegian Boy NamesSwedish Boy NamesViking Boy Names