Svante

Svante is a Swedish first name for males. It originates from Slavic ancestors of first prominent Svantes in Sweden. The Slavic languages have the name which is rendered as Sviatopolk in Russian, Świętopełk in Polish and Svatopluk/Svätopluk in Czech and Slovakian. Also Svjatopluk and so forth in other renditions.

In the latter half of the 13th century, Svantepolk of Viby (d 1310), a lord of high nobility, settled in Sweden. His mother had been a Pomeranian lady whose first name and precise origin is not known to us, but who is indicated to have come from the ducal family of Pomerelia. Svantepolk's father was Canute, Duke of Revalia, a bastard son of king Valdemar II of Denmark with a high-born Swedish lady Helena, daughter of Earl Guttorm. The name was presumably given to Svantepolk as namesake of some maternal relative of Slavic princely dynasties. Svantepolk's brother Eric, Duke of Halland, had got a traditionally Scandinavian first name.

Svantepolk became justiciar (lagman) of Östergötland and a wealthy and remarkable feudal lord in Sweden. His wife was Benedicta, granddaughter of king Sverker II of Sweden. Svantepolk and Benedicta's daughters married lords of Swedish high nobility and became ancestresses of several Swedish noble families, bringing substantial dowries. Lord Svantepolk, with royal ancestry and rights to ducal dignity of Halland, Blekinge and Revalia, was a valued ancestor, well-remembered in his noble Swedish descendants' pedigrees and family lore. The name Svante, a shortened version of Svantepolk, was given to many descendants.