Meaning & Origin
A male given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Gustav.
Gustave is a boy's baby name of Scandinavian origin, the French form of Gustav, from the Old Swedish Göstaff or Gustaff, possibly from the Old Norse elements meaning 'staff of the Goths' or 'the Goth's wand' — a royal Swedish name carried into French through cultural prestige.
With over 5,400 recorded births, Gustave is the specifically French and Belgian form of Gustav — used by French-speaking communities who adopted the Scandinavian royal name through its prestige associations. Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower, and Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary, are the name's two most culturally towering French bearers — an architect of iron and an architect of the modern novel.