Gustaf
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from Old Norse meaning "staff of the Goths".
Name Census estimates that about 256 living Americans carry the first name Gustaf. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gustaf today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gustaf births was 1917 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gustaf. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Gustaf with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
256
~ 1 in 1,338,884 Americans
Peak year
1917
25 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,871
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gustaf in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 371 people with the first name Gustaf, which placed it at #25,534 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#25,534
National first-name rank
People counted
371
371 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gustaf
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gustaf is White at 91.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gustaf described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gustaf at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.1% · 338
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 12
- Two or more races3.0% · 11
- Black or African American1.1% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Gustaf: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gustaf from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 149 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gustaf by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gustaf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gustafs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois recorded the most babies named Gustaf, while Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gustaf
Gustaf is a name of Swedish origin, derived from the Old Norse name Guðlafr, which is a compound of the elements "guð" meaning "god" and "lafr" meaning "descendant" or "heir." It can be translated as "god's heir" or "descendant of the gods."
The name has its roots in the Viking era and was popular among the Scandinavian peoples, particularly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It is closely related to the names Gustav and Gösta, which share the same linguistic ancestry.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gustaf can be found in the Scandinavian sagas and historical records from the medieval period. For example, the 13th-century Icelandic Saga of the Sturlung Clan mentions a character named Guðlafr Arason.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with the reign of King Gustav Vasa (1496-1560), the founder of the modern Swedish monarchy and the House of Vasa. He adopted the Swedish form of the name, Gustaf, which became popular among the Swedish nobility and common people alike.
Notable historical figures with the name Gustaf include Gustaf III (1746-1792), the King of Sweden who was assassinated at a masquerade ball in 1792. Another prominent figure was Gustaf IV Adolf (1778-1837), the King of Sweden who led the country during the Napoleonic Wars.
In the field of science, Gustaf de Laval (1845-1913) was a Swedish engineer and inventor best known for developing the first functional centrifugal milk separator and the de Laval nozzle for steam turbines.
In the arts, Gustaf Cederström (1845-1933) was a Swedish painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and portraits, while Gustaf Froding (1860-1911) was a renowned Swedish poet and writer of the late 19th century.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Gustaf, which has a rich cultural heritage and a long-standing tradition in Scandinavia.
People
Gustaf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gustaf as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gustaf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gustaf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 256 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gustaf going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,338,884 US residents.
Is Gustaf a common name?
We classify Gustaf as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 747 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gustaf most popular?
The single biggest year for Gustaf was 1917, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gustaf is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gustaf in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 371 people with the name Gustaf, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,534 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gustaf in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gustaf?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gustaf appears almost entirely male. Of the 369 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gustaf?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gustaf is White at 91.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.2%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gustaf most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gustaf in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.1% (338 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gustaf in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gustaf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gustaf in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gustaf still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gustaf in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gustaf can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Gustaf?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.