Gustav
A Germanic name meaning staff of the Geats, built from an old word for the Gothic tribes and one for a staff or support. In Poland it stays rare: most people here have never met one.
Gustav Pronunciation
What Gustav means
Where Gustav comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Gustav is a Germanic name that traveled north and settled among the Scandinavians. It gathers two old elements, Gautr, meaning the Geats, and stafr, a staff or support. Read together they yield the sense kept here: staff of the Geats, or in Polish podpora plemienia Gotów. There are no diminutives to soften it, no variants to hide behind.
Sweden gave the name its most famous bearers. Gustav Vasa broke the country from Danish rule in the 1520s and took the throne as Gustav I. A century later Gustav II Adolf led armies across the Baltic and into the German wars, which is one reason the name took root in German lands too. The support in the meaning became a support in fact.
Poland knows the form Gustaw, spelled with a w. A teacher reading a class register lands on it and pauses a beat. The name stays uncommon here. Behind it sits the same old sense: a staff for the Geats.
How many people are named Gustav
1 in 92009 men in Poland is named Gustav. 232 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2039 among male names.
Gustav's popularity over time
7 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #804 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.
Where Gustav is most popular
Gustav is most popular in West Pomeranian, 201% above the national average (4 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+143%) and Silesian (+123%). It is least common in Lesser Poland and Greater Poland, 44% and 41% below average respectively.
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West Pomeranian4 boys born+201%
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Lower Silesian6 boys born+143%
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Silesian8 boys born+123%
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Warmian-Masurian2 boys born+77%
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Masovian8 boys born+44%
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Pomeranian2 boys born−14%
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Greater Poland2 boys born−41%
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Lesser Poland2 boys born−44%
Gustav as a middle name
Gustav is a first name for 232 men in Poland and a middle name for another 134, a 63/37 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 607th, between Gniewosz (134) and Diter (133).
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#605 Matias135
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#606 Gniewosz134
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#607 Gustav134
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#608 Diter133
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#609 Roy132