Gustave
Masculine · “staff of the Goths”
Gustave is the French spelling of a Swedish royal name, and the Swedish name is a puzzle even to Swedes: the second element is clear, the first is argued about, and the whole may refer to a people rather than a thing.
How old is the name Gustave?
Gustave was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Gustave alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 1,300 people named Gustave are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gustave most popular?
Gustave peaked in 1882, reaching #217 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 7,462 places below that high. See the whole 1882 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gautstafr to Gustave
The story of Gustave
Gustav Vasa took the Swedish throne in 1523 and founded the dynasty that ruled for a century and a half, and six kings of the name followed him — which made Gustav one of the defining Swedish names. It spread into Germany and France, where it took the -e spelling. Both Swedish and French-speaking emigration brought it to America, where Gustave appears in nineteenth-century registers and peaked around 1885.
Meaningscholars disagree
staff of the Goths
From the Old Norse Gautstafr. The second element, stafr, means 'staff' and is secure. The first is usually read as Gautar, the Geats — the people of southern Sweden, the same name behind Gothenburg — giving 'staff of the Geats'. A competing reading takes it from a Slavic name, Gostislav. Neither is settled.
How the name formed
- Gautstafr
- Gustav
- Gustave
Related forms: Gustav · Gustav · Gustavo · Gustavo
Pronouncing Gustave
goo-STAHV
Two syllables, stress on the second, in French use; the final e is silent. English speakers often say GUS-tav instead, following the German and Swedish spelling.
Nicknames for Gustave
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1915152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #217reached in 1882
- Change vs 2021
- +66.7%10 in 2025, from 6
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.
Gustave in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gustav in Swedish — spelling variant
- Gustav in German — spelling variant
- Gustavo in Spanish — related form
- Gustavo in Italian — related form
Gustaves among us
people named Gustave are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Gustave
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Gustave 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
Gustave beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gustave in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Swedish royal name with an unbroken record of five hundred years.
- Gustavo is standard in Spanish and Italian, so the root travels widely.
- Gus is a plain, warm short form available immediately.
- The French and English pronunciations differ in both stress and syllable count.
- The first element of the compound is genuinely disputed.
- It is period-coded to the nineteenth century in American records.
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Gustave
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gustaves are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Gustave are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gustave in 2025?
- Gustave ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gustave?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Gustave — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gustave with classmates?
- Gustave will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gustave
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gustave? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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