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A name. A world of connections.
“pearl”
Hear the name
Danish
01 / Meaning & origin
Mette is a feminine given name documented in Danish, Finnish and Norwegian. English Wiktionary records an etymology for it. It is a form of Margaret, for which English Wiktionary gives the meaning “pearl”.
Separate records with matching spellings: Mette (Danish, Finnish)
Meaning: “pearl”
Contraction of Merete, from Margrethe (“Margaret”).
02 / Across borders
Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.
The name atlas
9
countries in our sources
Select a country to follow Mette’s connections around the world.
9 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.
Selected country
Published statistics
United States, 2016: 6 girls (rank 14331).
Explore United States4 of 9 countries
03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
1945–2025 Spelling: Mette
Recorded category girls
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.
| Year | Births | Rank | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 105 | 57 | observed |
| 1946 | 133 | 51 | observed |
| 1947 | 123 | 55 | observed |
| 1948 | 105 | 58 | observed |
| 1949 | 109 | 58 | observed |
| 1950 | 116 | 57 | observed |
| 1951 | 133 | 50 | observed |
| 1952 | 136 | 53 | observed |
| 1953 | 152 | 54 | observed |
| 1954 | 206 | 44 | observed |
| 1955 | 205 | 47 | observed |
| 1956 | 240 | 44 | observed |
| 1957 | 211 | 46 | observed |
| 1958 | 249 | 37 | observed |
| 1959 | 269 | 32 | observed |
| 1960 | 279 | 28 | observed |
| 1961 | 304 | 25 | observed |
| 1962 | 375 | 18 | observed |
| 1963 | 489 | 11 | observed |
| 1964 | 506 | 15 | observed |
| 1965 | 468 | 15 | observed |
| 1966 | 436 | 17 | observed |
| 1967 | 382 | 21 | observed |
| 1968 | 384 | 21 | observed |
| 1969 | 347 | 24 | observed |
| 1970 | 286 | 30 | observed |
| 1971 | 283 | 29 | observed |
| 1972 | 243 | 30 | observed |
| 1973 | 212 | 38 | observed |
| 1974 | 200 | 38 | observed |
| 1975 | 173 | 47 | observed |
| 1976 | 149 | 49 | observed |
| 1977 | 147 | 47 | observed |
| 1978 | 124 | 62 | observed |
| 1979 | 132 | 54 | observed |
| 1980 | 123 | 59 | observed |
| 1981 | 88 | 84 | observed |
| 1982 | 99 | 73 | observed |
| 1983 | 88 | 81 | observed |
| 1984 | 76 | 94 | observed |
| 1985 | 82 | 85 | observed |
| 1986 | 73 | 97 | observed |
| 1987 | 73 | 97 | observed |
| 1988 | 77 | 98 | observed |
| 1989 | 79 | 97 | observed |
| 1990 | 88 | 94 | observed |
| 1991 | 60 | 129 | observed |
| 1992 | 42 | 158 | observed |
| 1993 | 49 | 140 | observed |
| 1994 | 41 | 159 | observed |
| 1995 | 38 | 164 | observed |
| 1996 | 35 | 166 | observed |
| 1997 | 34 | 177 | observed |
| 1998 | 23 | 212 | observed |
| 1999 | 18 | 242 | observed |
| 2000 | 25 | 206 | observed |
| 2001 | 11 | 345 | observed |
| 2002 | 8 | 403 | observed |
| 2003 | 5 | 522 | observed |
| 2004 | 5 | 507 | observed |
| 2005 | 7 | 445 | observed |
| 2006 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2007 | 8 | 441 | observed |
| 2008 | 8 | 435 | observed |
| 2009 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2010 | 4 | 580 | observed |
| 2011 | no value | no value | not covered |
| 2012 | 5 | 510 | observed |
| 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 “Mette” 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.
Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC-BY-4.0
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.
Mette— “pearl”
Denmark, where the Semiramis of the North has domesticated the name, calls it Mette and Maret, and places it in many a popular tale and ballad as Metelill, or little Margaret.
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part III, Chapter V (Christian Greek Names), Section XIII (Margaret) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
A little story to keep
Take the story of Mette 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.
Norway — published individual first-name birth counts, 1945–2025
Statistics Norway (SSB) · 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
SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)
US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Netherlands — SVB newborn names from child-benefit administration, 2017–2025
Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), Netherlands · Dutch public-sector database reuse assessment; no standard publisher licence stated · 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
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
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
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
Spain — first names of residents, census snapshot 2025-01-01
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Spain · 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.
