Gunnar
Masculine · Old High German roots · “warrior”
Gunnar is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 18,156 boys against 22 girls since 1880.
Gunnar is one of the old Norse names that never went out of use in its homeland — it runs unbroken from the sagas to the phone books of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Two hard syllables, no silent letters, nothing to explain twice. It is the same name the German tradition carries as Gunther, and it has kept its own shape for over a thousand years.
How old is the name Gunnar?
Gunnar first appears in US birth records in 1893 — 132 years ago. The typical Gunnar alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 17,500 people named Gunnar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gunnar most popular?
Gunnar peaked in 2014, reaching #382 nationally. Today it ranks #612, 230 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Gunnar appears on these lists:
- Names ranked #601–1000: known, but barely shared
- Scandinavian names, cool by design
- Norse mythology names
- Viking names from the sagas
- Strong-sounding names with a hard edge
- Names ending in -ar
- all guides
Works in Scandinavian families too:
Where it comes from
From Gundahar (Old High German) to Gunnar
The story of Gunnar
Gunnar comes from Old Norse Gunnarr, a compound of gunnr, 'battle', and an element meaning 'army' or 'warrior' — the same Germanic pair that produced Gunther further south. It belongs to the oldest layer of Norse naming and turns up in the great medieval texts: Gunnarr of Hlíðarendi is the doomed hero of Njáls saga, written in Iceland in the thirteenth century, and Gunnarr appears in the legendary poems of the Poetic Edda as the brother of Gudrún. Unlike many saga names, it never needed reviving in Scandinavia — it simply stayed in use, generation after generation. It reached the United States with Norwegian, Swedish and Danish immigration, and has been on the American record ever since.
Meaning
warrior, fighter — literally 'battle-army'
From Old Norse Gunnarr, combining gunnr 'battle, war' with the element -arr, from herr 'army, warrior'.
How the name formed
- GundaharOld High German
- GunnarrOld Norse
- Gunnar
Related forms: Gunnar · Gunnar · Gunnar · Gunnar · Gunther · Kunnari
Pronouncing Gunnar
GUN-ar
Stress on the first syllable. In Norwegian and Swedish the first vowel is closer to 'goo' and the double n is held longer: GOON-nar.
Nicknames for Gunnar
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
- 1893
- Most boys named
- 2015825 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #382reached in 2014
- Change vs 2023
- −3.3%462 in 2025, from 478
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.
Gunnar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gunnar in Norwegian — same name
- Gunnar in Swedish — same name
- Gunnar in Icelandic — same name
- Gunnar in Danish — same name
- Gunther in German — related form
- Kunnari in Finnish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Gunnars among us
people named Gunnar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,697 born in 2025 was named Gunnar
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 Gilberto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gunnar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gilberto climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gilberto's path sketches the road Gunnar is walking now.
Gunnar 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 Gunnar is headed
Gunnar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Gunnar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gunnar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled and said the same way in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic — it crosses those borders without adjustment.
- Two syllables, phonetic spelling, one obvious stress pattern; almost no one will need it repeated.
- A documented record going back to Old Norse and the thirteenth-century Icelandic sagas, with no gap where it fell out of use.
- Familiar in sound while still uncommon enough in American classrooms that a boy is likely to have it to himself.
- Gunner — the occupational word and a separate American name — sounds nearly identical, so expect that spelling to come back at you on forms, mail and rosters for life.
- The first syllable reads as 'gun' in English, and the meaning is frankly martial. Some families like that plainly; others find the firearm echo, and the nickname Gunny, more than they want.
- Outside families with Nordic ties, people may not immediately recognize it as an old name rather than a modern coinage — which is easy to correct, and the correction is a good story.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Gunnar to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Gunnar? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Gunnar
Masculine · Old High German roots · #612 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gunnars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,500 people named Gunnar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gunnar in 2025?
- Gunnar ranks #612 among US boy names in 2025, with 462 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gunnar?
- About 1 in every 3,697 US boys born in 2025 was named Gunnar — 462 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gunnar with classmates?
- Gunnar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gunnar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jakari#612 · Kyro#611 · Albert#614 · Eziah#610 · Colby#615 · Yahya#615 · Roland#607 · Zaiden#607
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gunnar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gunnar and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle