How popular is the baby name Gustaf in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Gustaf.

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Popularity of the baby name Gustaf


Posts that mention the name Gustaf

Where did the baby name Bertil come from in 1912?

Princess Margaret and baby Bertil (in 1913)
Princess Margaret and Bertil

Crown Prince Gustaf VI of Sweden and his wife, Margaret, welcomed their fourth child, a baby boy, in February of 1912. They named him Bertil.

The same year Prince Bertil was born, the name Bertil appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1914: 31 baby boys named Bertil
  • 1913: 17 baby boys named Bertil
  • 1912: 16 baby boys named Bertil [debut]
  • 1911: unlisted
  • 1910: unlisted

Bertil was the second-highest debut that year, after Woodroe (inspired by Woodrow Wilson, who was elected president in November).

But the early SSA numbers tend to skew low, so here’s some data from the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for a different perspective. (I’m only counting people with the first name Bertil, and I’m ignoring the feminine variants Bertille and Bertilla.)

  • 1914: 51 people named Bertil
  • 1913: 37 people named Bertil
  • 1912: 40 people named Bertil
  • 1911: 19 people named Bertil
  • 1910: 32 people named Bertil

Just about all of the surnames I saw for Bertils in the SSDI were Swedish. Even more interesting, the SSA data indicates that many of these Bertils were born in Minnesota, Illinois and Massachusetts — states with large Swedish communities:

By 1910 the position of the Midwest as a place of residence for the Swedish immigrants and their children was still strong, but had weakened. Fifty-four percent of the Swedish immigrants and their children now lived in these states, with Minnesota and Illinois dominating. Fifteen percent lived in the East, where the immigrants were drawn to industrial areas in New England. New York City and Worcester, Massachusetts, were two leading destinations.

I think it’s safe to conclude that this usage of Bertil was occurring among Swedish immigrants (and their descendants) exclusively.

So what’s the etymology of Bertil? According to the Handbook of Scandinavian Names, the names Bertil and Bertel (which debuted the very next year) are “forms of the first element in German names like Berthold, from bert ‘bright, shining.’ The site Behind the Name simply says Bertil is a form of Berthold, meaning “bright ruler.”

Surprisingly, Bertil isn’t the first U.S. baby name debut we can link to Swedish royalty. Ebba, which debuted in 1888, was inspired by Princess Ebba Bernadotte — baby Bertil’s great aunt.

P.S. Bertil’s siblings were named Gustaf, Sigvard, Ingrid, and Carl. Curiously, none of them had a discernible influence on the U.S. baby name data like their brother did.

Sources:

Image: Prins Bertil och hans mor

80+ Hidden gems: Rare baby boy names

gemstone

Want a boy name that’s not popular, but also not unheard of?

I looked through all the names at the bottom of SSA’s 2011 mega-list and found a bunch of hidden gems:

  1. Alaric (48 baby boys)
  2. Alban (12)
  3. Aldous (11)
  4. Aldric (7)
  5. Alphonse (20)
  6. Archibald (14)
  7. Astor (5)
  8. Augustin (50)
  9. Balthazar (13)
  10. Barclay (6)
  11. Barnabas (8)
  12. Bartholomew (19)
  13. Booker (22)
  14. Chadwick (34)
  15. Cyril (41)
  16. Clancy (14)
  17. Claude (44)
  18. Clement (34)
  19. Crispin (21)
  20. Darcy (15)
  21. Dirk (40)
  22. Doyle (10)
  23. Ernst (6)
  24. Ferdinand (20)
  25. Garrick (42)
  26. Giles (20)
  27. Gregor (14)
  28. Griffith (18)
  29. Grover (9)
  30. Gustaf (7); Gustav (29)
  31. Horatio (10)
  32. Hubert (46)
  33. Ignatius (49)
  34. Isidore (7)
  35. Kermit (6)
  36. Lambert (6)
  37. Laird (17)
  38. Laurence (48)
  39. Laurent (9)
  40. Leander (48)
  41. Leith (7)
  42. Lemuel (50)
  43. Lowell (29)
  44. Maxfield (22)
  45. Newton (14)
  46. Nicanor (8)
  47. Norbert (9)
  48. Norris (21)
  49. Ogden (13)
  50. Orson (33)
  51. Osborn (5); Osborne (7)
  52. Oswald (18)
  53. Pascal (25)
  54. Percival (13)
  55. Peregrine (9)
  56. Piers (16)
  57. Regis (10)
  58. Remis (11)
  59. Roscoe (47)
  60. Rudolph (44)
  61. Rufus (39)
  62. Rupert (8)
  63. Sanford (6)
  64. Seymour (6)
  65. Sherman (40)
  66. Sinclair (8)
  67. Tavish (16)
  68. Thane (48)
  69. Tobiah (14)
  70. Walton (14)
  71. Warner (48)
  72. Watson (42)
  73. Webster (8)
  74. Weldon (27)
  75. Werner (11)
  76. Wilbert (42)
  77. Wilbur (20)
  78. Winfield (7)
  79. Winfred (7)
  80. Winslow (10)
  81. York (5)
  82. Zebulon (25)
  83. Zeno (13)

(In some cases, a different spelling of the name is more popular than what’s shown here. For instance, Laurence is rare, but Lawrence is moderately popular.)

Like any of these?

Spot any other good names at the end of the list?

P.S. Here’s the girls’ list.

Image by Tahlia Doyle from Unsplash

Where did the baby name Ebba come from in 1888?

Princess Ebba Bernadotte (1858-1946)
Ebba Bernadotte

Way back in 1888, the name Ebba appeared for the very first time in the U.S. baby name data. It was the top debut name of the year, in fact.

According to the SSA, Ebba became the name of at least 18 U.S. baby girls in 1888:

  • 1890: 13 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1889: 13 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1888: 18 baby girls named Ebba [debut]
  • 1887: unlisted
  • 1886: unlisted

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) reveals that the actual number is closer to 50:

  • 1890: 51 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1889: 38 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1888: 51 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1887: 15 baby girls named Ebba
  • 1886: 11 baby girls named Ebba

Why the Ebba spike?

Because of Princess Ebba Bernadotte of Sweden.

Born Ebba Henrietta Munck to a noble family in 1858, she became a lady-in-waiting to the Crown Princess, Viktoria of Baden, as a young woman. (Viktoria would go on to become the queen of Sweden in 1907 when her husband, Gustaf, became king.)

Ebba and the future king’s little brother, Prince Oscar, met in 1885. They wanted to marry, but weren’t permitted to do so until several years later, as Ebba was a non-royal and Oscar’s parents wouldn’t consent.

They finally became engaged in January of 1888, and got married in March of 1888. Both events were mentioned in many U.S. newspapers.

By marrying Ebba, Oscar gave up both his royal title and his right of succession to the Swedish throne. By marrying Oscar, Ebba became Princess Ebba Bernadotte. (She couldn’t become an official Princess of Sweden, so her title was derived from the name of the royal House of Bernadotte.)

Where does Ebba’s name come from? It’s a feminized form of Ebbe, a diminutive of Germanic names like Eberhard. The element eber means “boar.”

What are your thoughts on the name Ebba?

Sources: