Sven
| Pronunciation | Swedish: [ˈsvɛ̌nː] |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Old Norse |
| Meaning | Young man young warrior |
| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) | Svend, Svein, Sveinn |
| Related names | Svenja (female form) |
Sven is a Scandinavian masculine first name. In Old Norse the meaning was "young man" or "servant" and the original Old Norse spelling was sveinn.
Variants such as Svend are found in Danish and Norwegian. Another variant, Svein is used only in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries, and is cognate with the English surname Swain.
In medieval Swedish, sven or sven av vapen "sven of arms", is a term for squire. The female equivalent, Svenja, though seemingly Dutch and Scandinavian, is not common anywhere outside of German-speaking countries. Sven can also be spelled with a "w" - Swen - but is pronounced as Sven.
The Icelandic version is Sveinn (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsveitn̥]); the Faroese version is Sveinur (Faroese pronunciation: [ˈsvaiːnʊɹ]).