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A name. A world of connections.
“island + spear”
01 / Meaning & origin
Holger is a masculine given name documented in French, Spanish, German and 4 other languages. English Wiktionary traces it to Danish Holger. English Wikipedia gives the components island + spear.
3 source accounts
Meaning: “island + spear”
From Danish Holger.
Meaning: “island” + “spear”
From Old Danish Holmger, from Old Norse Hólmgeirr, from hólmr (“island”) (see holm) + geirr (“spear”).
Afkomstig van de Oudnoordse zelfstandige naamwoord holmi (= eiland) and geirr (= speer)
02 / Across borders
Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.
The name atlas
15
countries in our sources
Select a country to follow Holger’s connections around the world.
7 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.
Selected country
Published statistics
United States, 2002: 5 boys (rank 10667).
Explore United States4 of 15 countries
03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
1880–2025 Spelling: Holger
Recorded category boys
Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.
Source: US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)
Integer application counts retained without rounding.
Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.
| Year | Applications | Rank | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1881 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1882 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1883 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1884 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1885 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1886 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1887 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1888 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1889 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1890 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1891 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1892 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1893 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1894 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1895 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1896 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1897 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1898 | 5 | 1,121 | observed |
| 1899 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1900 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1901 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1902 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1903 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1904 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1905 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1906 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1907 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1908 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1909 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1910 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1911 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1912 | 13 | 1,353 | observed |
| 1913 | 11 | 1,676 | observed |
| 1914 | 6 | 2,915 | observed |
| 1915 | 9 | 2,621 | observed |
| 1916 | 16 | 1,849 | observed |
| 1917 | 13 | 2,188 | observed |
| 1918 | 9 | 2,882 | observed |
| 1919 | 6 | 3,736 | observed |
| 1920 | 7 | 3,489 | observed |
| 1921 | 9 | 2,986 | observed |
| 1922 | 8 | 3,252 | observed |
| 1923 | 8 | 3,175 | observed |
| 1924 | 7 | 3,505 | observed |
| 1925 | 5 | 4,197 | observed |
| 1926 | 7 | 3,385 | observed |
| 1927 | 5 | 4,210 | observed |
| 1928 | 7 | 3,357 | observed |
| 1929 | 9 | 2,766 | observed |
| 1930 | 9 | 2,781 | observed |
| 1931 | 6 | 3,390 | observed |
| 1932 | 8 | 2,849 | observed |
| 1933 | 7 | 3,004 | observed |
| 1934 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1935 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1936 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1937 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1938 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1939 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1940 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1941 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1942 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1943 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1944 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1945 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1946 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1947 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1948 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1949 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1950 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1951 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1952 | 6 | 3,373 | observed |
| 1953 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1954 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1955 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1956 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1957 | 5 | 3,993 | observed |
| 1958 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1959 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1960 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1961 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1962 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1963 | 6 | 3,646 | observed |
| 1964 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1965 | 6 | 3,537 | observed |
| 1966 | 5 | 3,948 | observed |
| 1967 | 5 | 3,966 | observed |
| 1968 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1969 | 5 | 4,404 | observed |
| 1970 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 1971 | 6 | 4,375 | 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 | 5 | 6,951 | observed |
| 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 | 5 | 10,667 | observed |
| 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 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2022 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2023 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2024 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2025 | no value | no value | not covered |
Statistics count the spelling “Holger” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure applications. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.
Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.
Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC0-1.0
Read our methodology04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
Holger— “holy”
This Italian marquis is an exceedingly droll development of the old Teutonic hero, Holger Danske. In Italy he is Oggieri, Oggero, or Uggieri il Danese; in French, Ogier le Danois; and, at times, _le damné_, or _il dannato_, which title is further accounted for by the story that he was a Saracen who became a Christian, and that his friends wrote from home ‘_tu es damné_,’ whence he chose to be thus christened. In the _Reali de Francia_, Charlemagne cuts off, with his own hand,…
This Italian marquis is an exceedingly droll development of the old Teutonic hero, Holger Danske. In Italy he is Oggieri, Oggero, or Uggieri il Danese; in French, Ogier le Danois; and, at times, _le damné_, or _il dannato_, which title is further accounted for by the story that he was a Saracen who became a Christian, and that his friends wrote from home ‘_tu es damné_,’ whence he chose to be thus christened. In the _Reali de Francia_, Charlemagne cuts off, with his own hand, the head of an unfortunate Oldrigi, whose blood was too noble to be shed by any one else. Now this Oggier was without doubt a contribution from the stores of Norman tradition; for Holger, or Olger, Danske is the grandest national hero of Denmark. There is a ballad, given by Weber, where he and Tidrek the Strong have a tremendous battle, and he comes off victor. Moreover, he has eaten of the fruit of the trees of the sun and moon, and has become immortal, and there he sits with his fellows in the vaults of the Castle of Kronberg, near which are two ponds, called his spectacles.…
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part VI, Chapter V (The Karling Romances), Section VII (Ogier le Danois) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.
German association football player (born 1989)
Danish tennis player (born 2003)
German association football player and manager
Danish linguist (1867-1953)
Poet and painter (1846-1908)
A little story to keep
Take the story of Holger with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.
06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)
US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
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
Denmark — grouped top baby names, 1985–2025
Statistics Denmark (Danmarks Statistik) · Statistics Denmark attribution terms (commercial and non-commercial reuse permitted) · retrieved 2026-10-15
South Australia — Popular Baby Names, per-year lists including names given once, 1944-2017
Attorney-General's Department, South Australia (via data.sa.gov.au) · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Spain — first names of residents, census snapshot 2025-01-01
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Spain · CC-BY-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Finland — first given names of living Finnish citizens in Finland or abroad, 2026-08-03
Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland · CC-BY-4.0 · 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.
