Ademola
A Yoruba name meaning "the crown or royalty is rich or prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 154 living Americans carry the first name Ademola. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ademola today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ademola births was 2017 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ademola. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ademola with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
154
~ 1 in 2,225,678 Americans
Peak year
2017
9 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,880
Tracked since 1977
Census
Ademola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 708 people with the first name Ademola, which placed it at #16,051 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,051
National first-name rank
People counted
708
708 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ademola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ademola is Black at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Hispanic (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ademola described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ademola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.3% · 689
- White0.8% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.8% · 6
- Two or more races0.6% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Ademola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ademola from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 49 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ademola remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ademola by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ademola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ademola
The name Ademola is a Yoruba name with origins in West Africa, specifically in present-day Nigeria. It is a combination of two words: "Ade," meaning "crown" or "royalty," and "mola," meaning "wealth" or "riches." Thus, the name Ademola can be interpreted as "the crown brings wealth" or "wealth from the crown."
The Yoruba people have a rich cultural heritage, and names often carry significant meanings related to circumstances surrounding a child's birth, family values, or aspirations for the child's future. The name Ademola has been in use for centuries among the Yoruba ethnic group.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ademola dates back to the 16th century, when it was mentioned in oral traditions and historical accounts of the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo. During this period, the name was likely bestowed upon children born into noble or wealthy families, reflecting the meaning of wealth and royalty.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ademola. One of the most prominent figures was Sir Ademola Ogunlesi (1905-1987), a Nigerian lawyer and jurist who served as the Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1963 to 1972. He played a significant role in shaping Nigeria's legal system during the transitional period leading to the country's independence.
Another well-known Ademola was Ademola Ariyo (1917-1989), a renowned Nigerian musician and composer. He was a pioneer of the popular Yoruba genre known as "Apala" and made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of traditional Yoruba music.
In the realm of sports, Ademola Bankole (born 1962) is a former Nigerian footballer who played as a striker for various clubs in Nigeria and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. He represented Nigeria at the 1988 African Cup of Nations and is considered one of the country's football legends.
The name Ademola has also been carried by scholars and intellectuals, such as Ademola Abass (1932-2010), a Nigerian linguist and expert in the Yoruba language. He authored numerous books and publications aimed at preserving and promoting the Yoruba language and culture.
Ademola Adeleke (born 1960) is a contemporary figure, a Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, and politician who has served as the Governor of Osun State since 2022. His name reflects the continued cultural significance and popularity of the name Ademola among the Yoruba people.
People
Ademola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ademola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ademola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ademola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 154 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ademola going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,225,678 US residents.
Is Ademola a common name?
We classify Ademola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ademola most popular?
The single biggest year for Ademola was 2017, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ademola is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ademola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 708 people with the name Ademola, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,051 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ademola in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ademola?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ademola appears almost entirely male. Of the 708 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ademola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ademola is Black at 97.3%. The next largest groups are White (0.8%) and Hispanic (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ademola most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ademola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (689 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ademola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ademola a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ademola in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ademola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ademola in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ademola can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Ademola?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Ademola at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.