Ailo
A diminutive Finnish form of the masculine name Ilmari meaning "heavenly warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Ailo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ailo today is around 4 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ailo births was 2022 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ailo. 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 Ailo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ailo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2022
5 babies that year
Average age
4
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,411
Tracked since 2022
Popularity
Ailo: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Ailo 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 Ailo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Ailo
The name Ailo is of Finnish origin, derived from the Old Norse word "ail," meaning "ever" or "always." It is believed to have been used as a name in the Nordic regions as early as the 9th century AD, during the Viking Age.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ailo can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical tales and stories written in the 13th and 14th centuries. The name appears in the Saga of the Greenlanders, which recounts the exploration and settlement of Greenland by Norse Vikings in the late 10th century.
In the saga, Ailo is mentioned as the name of a Norse explorer and navigator who accompanied Erik the Red on his voyage to Greenland. While little is known about the historical figure, the inclusion of the name Ailo in this important Norse literary work suggests its use and significance among the Vikings of that era.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Ailo was primarily used in the Nordic countries of Finland, Sweden, and Norway. One notable bearer of the name was Ailo Koskinen (1884-1953), a Finnish politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Finland from 1936 to 1937.
Another prominent figure named Ailo was Ailo Gaup (1944-2014), a Norwegian Sami writer and activist. Gaup was a prominent voice for the rights and cultural preservation of the Sami people, the indigenous population of northern Scandinavia. His works, written in the Sami language, explored themes of identity, tradition, and the challenges faced by the Sami community.
In the realm of sports, Ailo Savolainen (1958-2019) was a Finnish cross-country skier who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 4x10 km relay event in 1984.
While the name Ailo has its roots in the Nordic regions, it has also been used, albeit less commonly, in other parts of the world. For instance, Ailo Eronen (1935-2020) was a Finnish-Canadian artist and sculptor known for his abstract and modernist works, which were exhibited in galleries across Canada and internationally.
People
Ailo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ailo 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
Ailo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ailo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ailo 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Ailo a common name?
We classify Ailo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ailo most popular?
The single biggest year for Ailo was 2022, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ailo is about 4 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Ailo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ailo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ailo 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 Ailo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ailo 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 Ailo 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Ailo?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Ailo, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.