Espen
Masculine · “god bear”
Espen is given to both — 715 boys and 148 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Espen is a Norwegian name that has an entire bear inside it — it descends from Asbjørn, joining the word for a god to the word for a bear.
How old is the name Espen?
Espen first appears in US birth records in 1995 — 30 years ago. The typical Espen is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Espen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Espen most popular?
Espen peaked in 2005, reaching #2902 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 946 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ásbjǫrn to Espen
The story of Espen
Norse naming joined divine and animal elements freely and Ásbjǫrn was among the commonest results. Norwegian wore it down to Espen, which is now a separate name in ordinary use — Espen Askeladden, the youngest brother who wins by cleverness, is the hero of a whole cycle of Norwegian folk tales. It reaches American records with Norwegian families and, more recently, with the taste for Scandinavian names.
Meaning
god bear
From Old Norse áss, one of the gods, and bjǫrn, a bear; Ásbjǫrn gave Norwegian Asbjørn and, by a considerable erosion, Espen. The same first element opens Astrid and Oscar.
How the name formed
- Ásbjǫrn
- Asbjørn
- Espen
Related forms: Asbjørn · Esbjörn · Esben
Pronouncing Espen
ESS-pen
Two syllables, first stressed. Norwegian gives the same shape.
Nicknames for Espen
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1995
- Most boys named
- 201537 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2902reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −9.7%28 in 2025, from 31
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Espen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Asbjørn in Norwegian — related form
- Esbjörn in Swedish — same name
- Esben in Danish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Espens among us
people named Espen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Espen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alim test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Espen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alim climbed just as high around 1975, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alim's path sketches the road Espen is walking now.
Espen sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Espen is headed
Espen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Espen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Espen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Norse meaning with two vivid elements in it.
- The folk-tale hero behind it is a genuinely appealing figure.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- The bear is completely invisible in the modern form and needs explaining.
- Espen, Esben and Esbjörn are the Norwegian, Danish and Swedish forms and differ.
- It is close to Aspen, an American tree and place name, in an English ear.
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What they receive
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Espen
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Espens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Espen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Espen in 2025?
- Espen ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Espen?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Espen — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Espen with classmates?
- Espen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Espen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Espen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Espen and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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