Per

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4.57

(7 votes)

Male Name

Usage

Old Swedish
Old Danish
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
Finnish
Faroese
Icelandic
Greenlandic

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Origin and Meaning

Short form of Pädher and Peder (see Pedr)

Related Names

Paer	♂
Pe	♂
Peer	♂
Pehr	♂
Per	♂
Perh	♂
Pär	♂

See also:
Variant forms: Biera, Pêre, Perry
Female forms: Perda, Perina, Perla

Patronyms [What's That?]

Male

Perinpoika
Persen
Person
Persson
Perßøn (17th century)

Female

Perintytär
Persdatter
Persdotter
Persdóttir

Combinations

For combinations see PER (name element)

Grammar

- Danish
Nominative:	Per
Genitive:	Pers

- Faroese
Nominative:	Per
Accusative:	Per
Dative:	Peri
Genitive:	Pers

- Finnish
Nominative:	Per
Genitive:	Perin
Partitive:	Periä

- Icelandic
Nominative:	Per
Accusative:	Per
Dative:	Per
Genitive:	Pers

- Norwegian
Nominative:	Per
Genitive:	Pers

- Swedish
Nominative:	Per
Genitive:	Pers

Name Days

Norway

29 June

Finland (Swedish Language)

29 June

Sweden

1 August

Further Information

• Iceland: Officially approved as a given name

Earliest Documented Usage

• Denmark:
  • ca 1350
  • 14th century
  • A name mentioned in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser
• Sweden:
  • 1428
• Norway:
  • ca 1440

Strongest Period of Usage

• Norway:
  • 1940-1955
• Denmark:
  • 1950-1969
• Sweden:
  • 1950-
  • 1960-1979

Predominant Regional Usage

• Denmark:
  • København
  • Østjylland
  • Sjælland
  • Vestjylland
• Sweden:
  • Hälsingland (19th century) see map
  • Härjedalen (19th century) see map
  • Gästrikland (19th century) see map
  • Dalarna
  • Nordsverige

Namesakes

• Per Albin Hansson (born 28 October 1885), Prime Minister of Sweden (1932-1936; 1936-1946)
• Per Borten (3 April 1913 – 20 January 2005), former Prime Minister of Norway (1965-1971)
• Karl Per-Olof Åstrand (21 October 1922 – 2 January 2015), Swedish professor of physiology
• Per Fredrik Wahlöö (5 August 1926 – 22 June 1975), Swedish author
• Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 - 30 December 2010), Swedish actor
• Per Olov Enquist (23 September 1934 - 25 April 2020), Swedish author
• Per Kain Bronken (13 March 1935 – 4 October 2002), Norwegian poet, novelist, actor and stage producer
• Per Håkan Gessle (born 12 January 1959) Swedish singer and composer (Gyllene Tider, Roxette, etc.)
• Per Christopher Lasson (born 16 December 1970), Swedish actor

Trivia

• Sweden: In January 1973, 140,462 people were named Per (percentage of first or only given name: 94 %)

• Main character in Hans Christian Andersen's novel Lykkeper (1870)
• Main character in Henrik Pontoppidan's novel Lykkeper (1898-1904)
• Per was a heavy storm in Norway and Sweden in January 2007. Lill-Per (Little Per) was another storm (not quite as heavy) in Sweden a few days later.

Statistics

Name Count per Country (What's this?)

Please turn your device to landscape orientation for better view of statistics tables and graphs.

Country	Commonness Commonness	Total		Female ♀		Male ♂
		as main name#	also middle name&	as main name#	also middle name&	as main name#	also middle name&
Sweden		55952	164386	0	10	55952	164376
Denmark		30194	n.a.	0	n.a.	30194	n.a.
Finland		n.a.	4032	0	0	n.a.	4032
Greenland		91	471	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Iceland		15	18	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Norway		35726	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	35726	n.a.
#: count of main first name only
&: count of both main and additional first names
Name counts are approximate as statistics normally is not published for names given to less than 3 or 5 persons per country.

 

Recent Statistics Trend

Sources:

Top List Ranking

Sources:

Norwegian Historic Statistics Trend

Swedish Regional Distribution

Regional distribution of Per (m) in Sweden in the year 1880.