Holger

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Хольгер in RU Russia, TR Türkiye, UA Ukraine and Hol'Ger in LV Latvia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Holger is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name31K records spelled Holger10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ecuador, Peru, Spain, France

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Hólger, Hol'Ger, Hölger

• Danish given name23K records spelled Holger10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish

  Also written Hol'Ger, Hölger

• a separate given name4.1K records spelled Holger3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ecuador, United States, Sweden, Switzerland

  Also written Hólger, Hölger

• Polish given name1.1K records spelled Holger6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, United States

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Hol'Ger

• Croatian given name285 records spelled Holger11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Latvia, United States, Bulgaria

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Hol'Ger, Холгер

• Swahili given name246 records spelled Holger3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Africa, Ecuador, Spain

  Also written Hol'Ger

36 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Holger is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Holger är ett nordiskt namn, sammansatt av fornsvenskt holmber ’holme’ och → -ger. Den kontinentale sagohjälten Holger Danske har i danska medeltidsballader knutits till Danmark, där han blivit en nationalsymbol och givit spridning åt namnet. I den rikssvenska almanackan 30 mars och i den finlandssvenska 2 augusti.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• Parecido a una lanza

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

EC INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024) — 115 years between 1900–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Holger Nielsenb. 1866DKDanish sportsman (1866–1955)
• Holger Thieleb. 1878USDanish American astronomer (1878–1946)
• Holger Crafoordb. 1908SESwedish businessman (1908–1982)
• Holger J Hansenb. 1924DKactor from Denmark (1924-2013)
• Rosa von Praunheimb. 1942DEnot in their usual nameGerman film director (1942–2025)
• Holger Hieronymusb. 1959DEGerman footballer
• Prince Joachim of Denmarkb. 1969DKnot in their usual nameDanish prince (born 1969)
• Holger Badstuberb. 1989DEGerman association football player (born 1989)
• Holger Runeb. 2003DKDanish tennis player (born 2003)
• Lucas Bergvallb. 2006SEnot in their usual nameSwedish association football player (born 2006)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 454 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Holger?

We estimate roughly 28 thousand people bear Holger (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Holger have the most bearers?

Holger is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled holger.

How common is Holger compared with other names?

In Germany, Holger is the 98th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Holger a male or female name?

Holger is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Holger mean?

Recorded meaning: im 20. Jh. entlehnter männl.