Gustav, also spelled Gustaf (pronounced or in English; Swedish: [ˈɡɵ̂sːtav] (both spellings)), is a male given name of likely Old Swedish origin, used mainly in Scandinavian countries, German-speaking countries, and the Low Countries, possibly meaning "staff of the Geats or Goths or gods", possibly derived from the Old Norse elements Gautr ("Geats"), Gutar/Gotar ("Goths") or goð ōs ("gods"), and stafr ("staff"). Another etymology speculates that the name may be of Medieval Slavic origin, from the name Gostislav, a compound word for "glorious guest", from the Medieval Slavic words gosti ("guest") and slava ("glory") and was adopted by migrating groups north and west into Germany and Scandinavia. This name has been borne by eight Kings of Sweden, including the 16th-century Gustav Vasa and the current king, Carl XVI Gustaf. It is a common name for Swedish monarchs since the reign of Gustav Vasa.
The name has entered other languages as well. In French it is Gustave; in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish it is Gustavo. The Latinized form is Gustavus. A side-form of the name in Swedish is Gösta. The name in Finnish is Kustaa, while in Icelandic it is written Gústav or Gústaf.
Quick Facts Gender, Origin ...
Gustav |
| Gender | Male |
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| Language(s) | Germanic or Slavic |
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| Meaning | "gods staff" or "famous guest" |
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| Related names | Gustaf, Gustavo, Gistav, Gostislav, Gustl, Kustas, Kustaa |
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Royalty and nobility
Sweden
- Gustav I (1496–1560), King of Sweden 1523–1560, whose reign marked the end of the Kalmar Union and the beginning of Swedish independence; founder of the Vasa dynasty
- Gustav of Sweden (1568–1607), son of Eric XIV and Karin Månsdotter
- Gustav II Adolf (1594–1632), or Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden 1611–1632, praised military leader during the Thirty Year War, sometimes referred to as the "Father of modern warfare" or "The Lion of the North"
- Gustav of Vasaborg, (1616–1653), Swedish noble and military officer
- Karl X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden 1654–1660
- Gustav III (1746–1792), King of Sweden 1771–1792, who highly influenced the arts of Sweden during the Neo-Classical era and who temporarily reinstated absolute monarchy
- Gustav, Prince of Vasa (1799–1877), Crown Prince of Sweden
- Gustav IV Adolf (1778–1837), King of Sweden 1792–1809
- Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland (1827–1852), second son of Oscar I and Josephine of Leuchtenberg
- Gustaf V (1858–1950), King of Sweden 1907–1950
- Gustaf VI Adolf (1882–1973), King of Sweden 1950–1973
- Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (1906–1947)
- Carl XVI Gustaf (born 1946), King of Sweden 1973–
Others
- Gustav Åbergsson (1775–1852), Swedish stage actor
- Gustav Ahnelöv (born 1996), Swedish ice hockey player
- Gustav Elijah Åhr (1996–2017), known as Lil Peep, American rapper and singer
- Gustav von Alvensleben (1803–1881), Prussian General of the Infantry
- Gustav A. Anderson (1893–1983), American farmer and politician
- Gustaf Andersson (1884–1961), Swedish politician
- Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Spanish poet
- Gustav Bauernfeind (1848–1904), German painter famous for his Orientalist paintings
- Gustave Biéler (1904–1944), Swiss-born Canadian Special Operations Executive agent during World War II
- Gustavo Charif (born 1966), writer, visual artist and film director
- Gustave Colin (1814–1880), French politician
- Gustave-Henri Colin (1828–1910), French painter
- J. P. Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (1805–1859), German mathematician
- Gustav Hesselblad (1906–1989), Swedish military doctor
- Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792–1843), scientist for whom the Coriolis effect is named
- Gustaf Dalén (1869–1937), Swedish inventor and Nobel Prize laureate
- Gustave Doré (1832–1883), French artist, engraver, and illustrator
- Gustave Eiffel (1832–1923), French engineer, designer of the Eiffel Tower
- Gustav Fechner (1801–1887), German philosopher, physicist, and scientist
- Gustav Fehn (1892–1945), German general during World War II
- Gustav A. Fischer (1848–1886), German explorer
- Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), French writer best known for Madame Bovary
- Gustaf Fröding (1860–1911), Swedish author and poet
- Gustav Fröhlich (1902–1987), German actor
- Gustaf Gründgens (1899–1963), German actor
- Gustav Hamel (1889–1914), British aviation pioneer
- Gustav Hareide (born 1950), Norwegian politician
- Gustav A. Hedlund (1904–1993), American mathematician
- Gustav Heinse (1896–1971) (real name Josef Klein), Bulgarian poet of Austrian origin
- Gustav Anders Hemwall (1908–1998), American physician and pioneer in Prolotherapy
- Gustav Henriksen (1872–1939), Norwegian businessman
- Gustav Ludwig Hertz (1887–1975), German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
- Gustav Heynhold (1800–1860), German botanist
- Gustav Holst (1874–1934), British composer
- Gustáv Husák (1913–1991), President of Czechoslovakia
- Gustav Igler [de] (1842–1908), German painter
- C. Gustav J. Jacobi (1804–1851), German mathematician
- Gustav Jäger (naturalist) (1832–1917), German naturalist and doctor
- Gustav Jäger (painter) (1808–1871), German painter
- Gustav Jäger (physicist) [de] (1865–1938), Austrian physicist and lecturer
- Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), Swiss psychoanalyst and father of analytical psychology
- Gustav Ritter von Kahr (1862–1934), German right-wing politician in Bavaria
- Gustaf Kalliokangas (1873–1940), Finnish president
- Gustav Kirchhoff (1824–1887), German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and black-body radiation
- Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), Austrian symbolist painter of the Vienna Secession
- Gustav Knittel (1914–1976), German Waffen-SS officer and convicted war criminal
- Gustav Knuth (1901–1987), German actor
- Gustav Krklec (1899–1977), Croatian poet
- Gustav Landauer (1870–1919), German anarchist philosopher
- Gustaf Lantz (born 1981), Swedish politician
- Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913), Swedish engineer, inventor and entrepreneur
- Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931), French psychologist, sociologist, and physicist
- Gustav Leonhardt (1928–2012), Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher, and editor
- Gustave Lyon (1857–1936), French piano maker, inventor and acoustician
- Heinrich Gustav Magnus (1802–1870), German chemist and physicist
- Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), Austrian composer and conductor
- Gustav Meyrink (1868–1932), Austrian author, novelist, dramatist, translator, and banker
- Gustave Moreau (1826–1898), French painter
- Gustaf Munthe (1896–1962), Swedish writer, art historian, and art teacher
- Gustav Nezval (1907–1998), Czech actor
- Gustav Noske (1868–1946), German Minister of Defence
- Gustav Adolf Nosske (1902–1990), German SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator
- Gustav Nyquist (born 1989), Swedish professional hockey player
- Gustav Otto (1883–1926), German aircraft and aircraft-engine designer and manufacturer
- Oscar Gustave Rejlander, pioneering Victorian art photographer and an expert in photomontage
- Gustav Rochlitz (1889–1972), German art dealer
- Gustav Scanzoni von Lichtenfels (1855–1924), German general
- Gustav Schäfer (rower) (1906–1991), German Olympic rower
- Gustav Schäfer, drummer for the German rock band Tokio Hotel
- Gustav Schickedanz (1895–1977), German entrepreneur
- Gustav A. Schneebeli (1853–1923), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
- Gustav Schröder (1885–1959), German sea captain
- Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907–1972), Austrian police chief and Nazi German military officer
- Gustaf Skarsgård (born 1980), Swedish actor
- Gustav Spörer (1822–1895), German astronomer
- Gustav Stickley (1858–1942), American furniture maker, invented the Mission style of Craftsman furniture
- Gustav Sule (1910–1942), Estonian javelin thrower
- Gustavus von Tempsky (1828–1868), Anglo-Prussian explorer and adventurer in New Zealand Wars
- Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943), Norwegian sculptor
- Gustaf Welin (1930–2008), Swedish Army lieutenant general
- Gustave Whitehead (1874–1927), German-American aviator
- Gustav Wood, vocalist in British rock band Young Guns
- Gustavs Zemgals (1871–1939), Latvian president 1927–1930
- Gustav Zeuner (1828–1907), German physicist and engineer
- Gustave de Molinari (1819–1912), Belgian political economist
