Boy · Old Norse
Birger
Say it: BIR-yer
Meaning
From Old Norse bjarga 'to help, save': 'helper'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Made famous by Birger Jarl in the 13th century and common in Sweden in the 20th.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 34 babies given this name since 1911
- At its height in 1911, about 1 in 37,700 boys
- Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| Icelandic | Birgir |
|---|---|
| Danish | Børge |
Famous bearers
- Birger Jarl, Swedish statesman and founder of Stockholm
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.