Folke

← Back to The High and Late Middle Ages

Boy · Old Norse

Folke

Say it: FOL-keh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Old Norse fólk 'people, army', originally a short form of names with this element.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Known from the medieval Folkunga dynasty, which traced its name to an ancestor called Folke.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

051018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1913per million babies of that sex
  • 5 babies given this name since 1913
  • At its height in 1913, about 1 in 102,500 boys
  • Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  2. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  3. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Swedish

Famous bearers

  • Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat

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.