Boluwatife
Yoruba name meaning "wake up to worship the Lord."
Name Census estimates that about 190 living Americans carry the first name Boluwatife. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Boluwatife today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boluwatife births was 2017 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boluwatife. 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 Boluwatife with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
190
~ 1 in 1,803,970 Americans
Peak year
2017
16 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,547
Tracked since 2001
Census
Boluwatife in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 325 people with the first name Boluwatife, which placed it at #27,889 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
#27,889
National first-name rank
People counted
325
325 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
96.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boluwatife
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boluwatife is Black at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.5%) and White (0.9%). 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 Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American96.0% · 312
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 5
- White0.9% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 2
- Two or more races0.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Boluwatife
Boluwatife is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 192 total registrations, 114 (59.4%) were male and 78 (40.6%) were female.
Boluwatife as a male name
- Ranked #12,547 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (11 births)
Boluwatife as a female name
- Ranked #13,765 in 2021
- 6 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2018 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Boluwatife on both sides of the split. Of the 329 people counted with this name, 163 were male (49.5%) and 166 were female (50.5%).
Popularity
Boluwatife: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boluwatife from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 82 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Boluwatife remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife
The name Boluwatife originates from the Yoruba language, spoken primarily in southwestern Nigeria, and is a combination of two words: "Olu" meaning "owner" or "lord," and "Watife" meaning "wealth" or "riches." This name can be traced back to the Yoruba people's cultural traditions and beliefs, where names often reflect hopes, prayers, or gratitude for a child's birth.
Historically, the name Boluwatife was likely given to children as a expression of hope for their future prosperity and abundance. In Yoruba culture, wealth was not only associated with material possessions but also encompassed spiritual, intellectual, and emotional richness.
While there are no known ancient texts or religious scriptures specifically mentioning the name Boluwatife, its components, "Olu" and "Watife," have roots in the Yoruba language that stretch back centuries, reflecting the cultural significance of wealth and prosperity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boluwatife can be found in the late 19th century, during the era of the Yoruba Wars and the rise of prominent Yoruba leaders and warriors. Boluwatife Akinloye, born in 1872, was a notable figure who played a significant role in the Ibadan military campaigns against the Ijebu and Ekiti people.
Another historical figure bearing the name Boluwatife was Boluwatife Ogundipe, a renowned Yoruba scholar and linguist born in 1923. He made significant contributions to the preservation and promotion of the Yoruba language and culture through his works on Yoruba literature, grammar, and folklore.
In the realm of sports, Boluwatife Aiyegbusi, born in 1990, is a Nigerian-American professional football player who has played for several teams in the National Football League (NFL) since his debut in 2015.
Boluwatife Adesina, born in 1978, is a notable Nigerian entrepreneur and business executive who co-founded the popular online marketplace, Jumia. His entrepreneurial endeavors have contributed to the growth of e-commerce in Africa.
Lastly, Boluwatife Adebayo, born in 1997, is a rising Nigerian-American basketball player currently playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Miami Heat. His athletic achievements and promising career have brought pride to both his Nigerian and American heritage.
People
Boluwatife + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boluwatife as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Boluwatife: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boluwatife?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boluwatife 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 1,803,970 US residents.
Is Boluwatife a common name?
We classify Boluwatife as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 192 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boluwatife most popular?
The single biggest year for Boluwatife was 2017, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boluwatife is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boluwatife in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 325 people with the name Boluwatife, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,889 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 Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Boluwatife on both sides of the split. Of the 329 people counted with this name, 163 were male (49.5%) and 166 were female (50.5%). 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 Boluwatife?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boluwatife is Black at 96.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.5%) and White (0.9%). 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 Boluwatife most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Boluwatife in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.0% (312 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 Boluwatife in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boluwatife a male name?
Yes, 59.4% of people registered as Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boluwatife 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 Boluwatife 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 Americans are named Boluwatife?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.