A name. A world of connections.

Ansgar

“god” + “spear”

masculineLatin script

Hear the name

Origin: Old High German
6 language contexts: German Swedish Danish +3 more
Follow the evidence: 9 cited sources Source-reported

01 / Meaning & origin

About Ansgar

Ansgar is a masculine given name documented in German, Swedish, Danish and 3 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Old High German gēr, from the components “god” + “spear”.

2 source accounts

Old High German origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “god” + “spear”

From Old High German ans (“god”) + Old High German gēr (“spear”). Cognate with Faroese and Icelandic Ásgeir, Swedish and Danish Asger, Norwegian Nynorsk Åsgeir, and English Oscar.

Sources for this account (4)

Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Polish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Explore 1 more accountHide additional accountsSource accounts may describe the same origin.

German Wiktionary accountSource-reported[1] Zusammensetzung aus den althochdeutschen Begriffen ans (Gott) und ger (Speer)

[1] Zusammensetzung aus den althochdeutschen Begriffen ans (Gott) und ger (Speer)

Sources for this account (1)

German Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

02 / Across borders

Where Ansgar is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Ansgar’s connections around the world.

3 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

Germany

Statistics + language records

Berlin, 2023: 3 boys (rank 768). Documented as a given name in German.

Explore Germany

4 of 8 countries

03 / By the numbers

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Norway

1945–2025 Spelling: Ansgar

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 5; births; Rank #448
Peak year: 1945; 19 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Statistics Norway · Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Ansgar in Norway, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
1945	19	188	observed
1946	12	243	observed
1947	11	250	observed
1948	11	246	observed
1949	18	195	observed
1950	7	299	observed
1951	4	373	observed
1952	8	291	observed
1953	6	326	observed
1954	4	402	observed
1955	6	351	observed
1956	7	331	observed
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	8	329	observed
1959	6	375	observed
1960	5	429	observed
1961	5	415	observed
1962	no value	no value	not covered
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	5	481	observed
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	no value	no value	not covered
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	5	540	observed
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	no value	no value	not covered
1979	no value	no value	not covered
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	no value	no value	not covered
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	no value	no value	not covered
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	no value	no value	not covered
2007	no value	no value	not covered
2008	no value	no value	not covered
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	no value	no value	not covered
2011	no value	no value	not covered
2012	no value	no value	not covered
2013	no value	no value	not covered
2014	no value	no value	not covered
2015	no value	no value	not covered
2016	no value	no value	not covered
2017	no value	no value	not covered
2018	no value	no value	not covered
2019	no value	no value	not covered
2020	no value	no value	not covered
2021	4	454	observed
2022	4	457	observed
2023	4	496	observed
2024	no value	no value	not covered
2025	5	448	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Statistics count the spelling “Ansgar” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure births. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Born persons for the individual girls' and boys' names published in SSB table 10467.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: SSB API: '.' means category not applicable; '..' means data not available. Null cells are not emitted and remain unknown, never zero.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC-BY-4.0

Read our methodology

04 / Through time

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
ANSGAR— “divine war”
…Aslak is in the North pronounced Atlak, and sometimes taken for the original Atli in the Volsunga Saga; but this is far more probably the Tartar Attalik. We had a Bernician Aslak of the like meaning. Never were there a more noted pair of twins than these brothers, of the _bear_ and the _sport_. Well might their birth be first announced to their absent father, on his return to the isle of Soro, by twin church steeples, built by the mother to greet his eyes over the sea. His…
Read the full historical passageShow shorter excerpt
…Aslak is in the North pronounced Atlak, and sometimes taken for the original Atli in the Volsunga Saga; but this is far more probably the Tartar Attalik. We had a Bernician Aslak of the like meaning. Never were there a more noted pair of twins than these brothers, of the _bear_ and the _sport_. Well might their birth be first announced to their absent father, on his return to the isle of Soro, by twin church steeples, built by the mother to greet his eyes over the sea. His name, Askar, or Ansgjerr, divine spear, was so common that sixteen appear in the Iceland roll, and the word Osgar gets confused with the Keltic Oscar, son of Ossian; nay, it may perhaps have been his proper name. A Frank Ansgar, born in Picardy about the year 800, was the apostle of Denmark, and afterwards bishop of Hamburgh and Bremen; he was canonized as Anscharius, and is popularly called in his bishopric St. Scharies, by which title the collegiate church of Bremen is called. It is curious to find the Ansbrando of ancient Lombardy reflected by the Asbrandr, divine sword, of Iceland.…
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter II (Names From Teuton Mythology), Section II (The Aasir) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers

People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.

Ansgar
801–865
missionary to Denmark and later Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Ansgar Knauff
born 2002
German association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Lars Leijonborg
born 1949
Swedish politician
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
Wikipedia Wikidata source

A little story to keep

A name worth keeping.

Take the story of Ansgar with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.

06 / Behind the facts

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms6

Wikidata Q569694CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Polish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
German Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences2

Wikimedia Commons: File:De-Ansgar.oggCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wikimedia Commons: File:LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Ansgar.wavCC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter II (Names From Teuton Mythology), Section II (The Aasir)Public domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates3

Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025
Statistics Norway (SSB) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Statistik Austria — Vornamen (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1): first names of live births, Austria, 1984-2025 (national counts from district rows)
Statistik Austria (Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Berlin — published first-given-name registration counts, 2017–2023
BerlinOnline GmbH, based on Berlin LABO civil-registry data · CC-BY-3.0-DE · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

Loading your next page…

About Ansgar

Ansgar is a masculine given name documented in German, Swedish, Danish and 3 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Old High German gēr, from the components “god” + “spear”.

2 source accounts

Old High German origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “god” + “spear”

From Old High German ans (“god”) + Old High German gēr (“spear”). Cognate with Faroese and Icelandic Ásgeir, Swedish and Danish Asger, Norwegian Nynorsk Åsgeir, and English Oscar.

Sources for this account (4)

Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Polish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Explore 1 more accountHide additional accountsSource accounts may describe the same origin.

German Wiktionary accountSource-reported[1] Zusammensetzung aus den althochdeutschen Begriffen ans (Gott) und ger (Speer)

[1] Zusammensetzung aus den althochdeutschen Begriffen ans (Gott) und ger (Speer)

Sources for this account (1)

German Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Where Ansgar is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Ansgar’s connections around the world.

3 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

Germany

Statistics + language records

Berlin, 2023: 3 boys (rank 768). Documented as a given name in German.

Explore Germany

4 of 8 countries

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

Norway

1945–2025 Spelling: Ansgar

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2025: 5; births; Rank #448
Peak year: 1945; 19 births

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: Statistics Norway · Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025

Published integer counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Ansgar in Norway, boys: births and rank by year
Year	Births	Rank	Status
1945	19	188	observed
1946	12	243	observed
1947	11	250	observed
1948	11	246	observed
1949	18	195	observed
1950	7	299	observed
1951	4	373	observed
1952	8	291	observed
1953	6	326	observed
1954	4	402	observed
1955	6	351	observed
1956	7	331	observed
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	8	329	observed
1959	6	375	observed
1960	5	429	observed
1961	5	415	observed
1962	no value	no value	not covered
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	5	481	observed
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	no value	no value	not covered
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	5	540	observed
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	no value	no value	not covered
1979	no value	no value	not covered
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	no value	no value	not covered
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	no value	no value	not covered
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	no value	no value	not covered
2007	no value	no value	not covered
2008	no value	no value	not covered
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	no value	no value	not covered
2011	no value	no value	not covered
2012	no value	no value	not covered
2013	no value	no value	not covered
2014	no value	no value	not covered
2015	no value	no value	not covered
2016	no value	no value	not covered
2017	no value	no value	not covered
2018	no value	no value	not covered
2019	no value	no value	not covered
2020	no value	no value	not covered
2021	4	454	observed
2022	4	457	observed
2023	4	496	observed
2024	no value	no value	not covered
2025	5	448	observed

About this dataset and its counting rules

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: Born persons for the individual girls' and boys' names published in SSB table 10467.
Rounding: Published integer counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: SSB API: '.' means category not applicable; '..' means data not available. Null cells are not emitted and remain unknown, never zero.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC-BY-4.0

Read our methodology

History

Historical scholarship

Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.

1884From the archives
ANSGAR— “divine war”
…Aslak is in the North pronounced Atlak, and sometimes taken for the original Atli in the Volsunga Saga; but this is far more probably the Tartar Attalik. We had a Bernician Aslak of the like meaning. Never were there a more noted pair of twins than these brothers, of the _bear_ and the _sport_. Well might their birth be first announced to their absent father, on his return to the isle of Soro, by twin church steeples, built by the mother to greet his eyes over the sea. His…
Read the full historical passageShow shorter excerpt
…Aslak is in the North pronounced Atlak, and sometimes taken for the original Atli in the Volsunga Saga; but this is far more probably the Tartar Attalik. We had a Bernician Aslak of the like meaning. Never were there a more noted pair of twins than these brothers, of the _bear_ and the _sport_. Well might their birth be first announced to their absent father, on his return to the isle of Soro, by twin church steeples, built by the mother to greet his eyes over the sea. His name, Askar, or Ansgjerr, divine spear, was so common that sixteen appear in the Iceland roll, and the word Osgar gets confused with the Keltic Oscar, son of Ossian; nay, it may perhaps have been his proper name. A Frank Ansgar, born in Picardy about the year 800, was the apostle of Denmark, and afterwards bishop of Hamburgh and Bremen; he was canonized as Anscharius, and is popularly called in his bishopric St. Scharies, by which title the collegiate church of Bremen is called. It is curious to find the Ansbrando of ancient Lombardy reflected by the Asbrandr, divine sword, of Iceland.…
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter II (Names From Teuton Mythology), Section II (The Aasir) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)

Notable bearers

People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.

Ansgar
801–865
missionary to Denmark and later Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Ansgar Knauff
born 2002
German association football player
Wikipedia Wikidata source
Lars Leijonborg
born 1949
Swedish politician
Recorded as a middle or baptismal name
Wikipedia Wikidata source

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms6

Wikidata Q569694CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Greek Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Polish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Turkish Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
German Wiktionary: AnsgarCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences2

Wikimedia Commons: File:De-Ansgar.oggCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wikimedia Commons: File:LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Ansgar.wavCC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Historical referencesOriginal texts and their publication details1

Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter II (Names From Teuton Mythology), Section II (The Aasir)Public domain (Project Gutenberg) · rev. 2023-03-30 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates3

Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025
Statistics Norway (SSB) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Statistik Austria — Vornamen (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1): first names of live births, Austria, 1984-2025 (national counts from district rows)
Statistik Austria (Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Berlin — published first-given-name registration counts, 2017–2023
BerlinOnline GmbH, based on Berlin LABO civil-registry data · CC-BY-3.0-DE · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

A story to pass on.

About Ansgar

Old High German origin

Where Ansgar is used

Across borders

Germany

Popularity over time

Norway

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers

Ansgar

Ansgar Knauff

Lars Leijonborg

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

A story to pass on.

About Ansgar

Old High German origin

Where Ansgar is used

Across borders

Germany

Popularity over time

Norway

History

Historical scholarship

Notable bearers

Ansgar

Ansgar Knauff

Lars Leijonborg

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page