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Svend

Boys' name

Boy, servant, through Sveinn

Svend has been given to 37 babies in the U.S. since 1921. 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 1934, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Svend, 1968

1 in 676,000

Svend over time, 1880–2025

Boys
024618801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Svend: meaning, origin, and history

Boy, servant, through Sveinn

Old Norse

What Svend means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Svend is used in Danish and Norwegian. Its origins include Old Norse.

Svend comes through Old Norse Sveinn.

Related names and everyday forms

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

Pronunciation and spelling

In Danish, Svend is pronounced /sʋɛnd/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 37 boys were recorded with the name Svend between 1921 and 1968. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1934; its best national rank was #3,635 in 1934.

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 Svend?

Svend had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1968, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1968
1 in 676,000
5 of 3,378,301 births
Among boys only
1 in 348,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1968
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
468,333 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Svend 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 1968 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 468,333 children born in 1968 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Svend. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Svends were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Svend was born before 1961 — so the typical Svend is around 64 today.

Median birth year
1961
About 64 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
56.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
56.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
21
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 56.8% of all recorded uses (21).

Is Svend 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 1934 (6)
Years since peak
91
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,635
1934

Spellings of Svend

Svend is not the most common spelling — Syed is, with 29.6% against Svend's 0.18%.

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.

Svend around the world

Where Svend 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
    1880–2000
    #486
    in 2000
  • South Australia
    1960–1968
    #520
    in 1968

Popularity data from Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Svend 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
#3,635
1934
Peak year
1934
6 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
1968
All-time count
37
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Svend

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

ElendSverreBerendArmendArendFriendLejendLeelendRylendDezmendLelendAlegendLedgendJalendKylendJaylendSvenDesmendRaylendAhlegendLeilendDelegendTownsendBraylend

Sibling names for Svend

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 Svend

Top names of 1934, Svend's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1934Boys' names starting with SDanish Boy Names