Gustavus (name) explained
Gustavus is the Latinised form of the male given name Gustav or Gustaf, 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 Norse, Old: Gautr ("Geats"), Norse, Old: Gutar/Norse, Old: Gotar ("Goths") or Norse, Old: goð ōs ("gods"), and Norse, Old: 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 Slavic languages: gosti ("guest") and Slavic languages: 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 French: Gustave; in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish it is Gustavo. A side form of the name in Swedish is Gösta. The name in Finnish is Finnish: Kustaa, while in Icelandic it is written Icelandic: Gústav or Icelandic: Gústaf.
A-G
- Gustavus Abeel (1801–1887), American pastor, missionary, and writer
- Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632), King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632
- Gustavus Adolphus of the Palatinate (1632–1641), last son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine
- Gustavus Aird (1813–1898), Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland
- Gustavus M. Blech (1870–1949), Russian-born American physician, surgeon, and medical educator
- Gustavus Miller Bower (1790–1864), U.S. Representative from Missouri
- Gustavus Brander (1720–1787), English naturalist
- Gustavus Vaughan Brooke (1818–1866), Irish stage actor
- Gustavus Richard Brown (1747–1804), friend of George Washington, physician, and botanist
- Gustavus Conyngham (1747–1819), Irish-born American merchant sea captain
- Gustavus Wynne Cook (1867–1940), American banker, businessman, and amateur astronomer
- Gustavus Coulson (1879–1901), British Army officer and English recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Gustavus Cox (1870–1958), Barbadian cricketer
- Gustavus De Russy (1818–1891), U.S. Army career officer and American Civil War general
- Gustavus Cheyney Doane (1840–1892), U.S. Army Cavalry Captain, explorer, and inventor
- Gustavus Esselen (1888–1952), American chemist
- Gustavus A. Finkelnburg (1837–1908), United States representative from Missouri and federal judge
- Gustavus Fowke (1880–1946), English army officer and first-class cricketer
- Gustavus Fox (1821–1883), U.S. Navy officer
- Gustavus Richard Glenn (1848–1939), American academic
- Gustavus Green (1865–1964), British engineer and contributor to the design of early aircraft engines
H-N
- Gustavus Hamilton (disambiguation), various people
- Gustavus Handcock (1693–1751), Irish politician
- Gustavus Adolphus Henry Sr. (1804–1880), American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from Tennessee
- Gustavus Hesselius (1682–1755), Swedish-American painter
- Gustavus Hines (1809–1873), American missionary
- Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs (1836–1923), chemist and natural philosopher
- Gustavus Holmes, builder of the Gustavus Holmes House
- Gustavus Hume (1730–1812), president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
- Gustavus Hume (British Army officer) (1826–1891), British Army soldier in the Crimean War
- Gustavus Katterfelto (c. 1743–1799), Prussian conjurer, scientific lecturer, and quack
- Gustavus Kelly (1901–1980), Irish cricketer
- Gustavus Town Kirby (1874–1956), American sports administrator who was president of the Amateur Athletic Union
- Gustavus Loomis (1789–1872), U.S. Army officer
- Gustavus Hindman Miller (1857–1929), prominent Tennessee merchant, manufacturer, financier, capitalist farmer, author
- Gustavus Murray (1831–1887), British obstetrician
- Gustavus Myers (1872–1942), American journalist and historian
- Gustavus Adolphus Neumann (1807−1886), German-born American newspaper publisher
- Gustavus A. Northcott (1861–1938), Republican President of the West Virginia Senate
- Gustavus Reinhold Nyländer (1776–1825), German Lutheran missionary and linguist who worked in Sierra Leone
O-Z
- Gustavus Orr (1819–1887), early proponent of the public education system of the U.S. state of Georgia
- Gustavus Pike (fl. 1880s), builder of the Gustavus and Sarah T. Pike House
- Gustavus G. Prescott, Charleston merchant and builder of the Gustavus G. Prescott House
- Gustavus Poznanski (1804–1879), South Carolina cantor and religious leader
- Gustavus Schmidt (1795–1877), American lawyer and lecturer on Civil Law at the University of Louisiana
- Gustavus Scott (1753–1800), American lawyer who served in legislative capacities in Maryland in the American Revolutionary War
- Gustavus H. Scott (1812–1882), U.S. Navy officer
- Gustavus Sessinghaus (1838–1887), U.S. Representative from Missouri
- Gustavus Sidenberg (1843–1915), Jewish-American manufacturer and financier
- Gustavus Simmons (born 1930), American cryptographer
- Gustavus Smith (disambiguation), various people
- Gustavus Sniper (1836–1894), German-born Union Army brevet brigadier general in the American Civil War
- Gustavus Swan (1787–1860), Ohio lawyer and banker
- Gustavus Franklin Swift (1839–1903), American business executive
- Gustavus Talbot (1848–1920), British member of parliament and a Coalition Conservative politician
- Gustavus Trask (1836–1914), governor of Sailors' Snug Harbor
- Gustavus von Tempsky (1828–1868), Prussian adventurer, artist, newspaper correspondent, and soldier
- Gustavus Waffelaert (1847–1931), 22nd bishop of Bruges in Belgium
- Gustavus Waltz (fl. 1732–1759), German bass opera singer
- Gustavus Athol Waterhouse (1877–1950), Australian entomologist
- Gustavus Blin Wright (1830–1898), Canadian pioneer roadbuilder and entrepreneur
See also
