Preben

Spellings & scripts●

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●

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◐

Preben is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name146 records spelled Preben2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Norway

  Also written Prėben

• Russian given name46 records spelled Preben3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Türkiye

  Also written Пребен

31 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●

Preben is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Danish: from medieval Pridbjørn , a reworking (with assimilation to the Scandinavian element bjørn bear) of the Slavonic personal name Pritbor , composed of the elements prid foremost, leading + bor battle.

  as a word

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●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 66 years between 1947–2021. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Preben Philipsenb. 1910DKfilm producer (1910–2005)
• Preben Lerdorff Ryeb. 1917DKDanish actor (1917–1995)
• Bob Ramsingb. 1923DKnot in their usual nameDanish film director (1923-1998)
• Preben Dabelsteenb. 1925Danish badminton player (1925–2017)
• Preben Harrisb. 1935DKDanish actor
• Preben Isakssonb. 1943DKDanish cyclist (1943-2008)
• Preben Krabb. 1952DKDanish rower
• Preben Kristensenb. 1953DKDanish actor
• Preben Elkjærb. 1957DKDanish footballer
• Preben Van Heckeb. 1982BEroad bicycle racer

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 · 211 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Preben?

We estimate roughly 11 thousand people bear Preben (counting its spellings and scripts) across 6 countries in our records.

In which country does Preben have the most bearers?

We estimate about 8.9 thousand people bear Preben in Denmark, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled preben.

Where is Preben most common?

Preben is densest in Denmark, where the national register counts about 1 in 663 people carrying it.

How common is Preben compared with other names?

In Denmark, Preben is the 121st most common given name of 31,396 given names recorded there.

Is Preben a male or female name?

Preben 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 Preben mean?

Recorded meaning: a male given name borrowed from Danish Preben