Olaf
A Scandinavian male name meaning "prosperous ruler" or "ancestor's relic".
Name Census estimates that about 997 living Americans carry the first name Olaf. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Olaf today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Olaf births was 1916 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Olaf. 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 Olaf with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
997
~ 1 in 343,786 Americans
Peak year
1916
79 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,645
Tracked since 1880
Census
Olaf in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,508 people with the first name Olaf, which placed it at #9,287 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
#9,287
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,508 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Olaf
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olaf is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (2.5%). 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 Olaf 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 Olaf at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.9% · 1,160
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 236
- Black or African American2.5% · 38
- Two or more races2.5% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 17
Popularity
Olaf: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Olaf from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 501 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Olaf 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 Olaf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Olafs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Minnesota, North Dakota, New York recorded the most babies named Olaf, while Washington, Montana, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Olaf
The given name Olaf is of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse name Áleifr. It is composed of the elements anu, meaning "ancestor," and leifr, meaning "descendant" or "heir." The name was popular among the ancient Norse and Vikings, reflecting their belief in honoring their ancestral heritage.
Olaf was a common name among Scandinavian royalty and nobility during the Viking Age (793-1066 AD). One of the earliest recorded uses of the name was Olaf Tryggvason (963-1000), a Norwegian king who played a significant role in the Christianization of Norway. He is celebrated in Icelandic sagas and is considered a renowned Viking warrior and explorer.
Another notable figure was Olaf II Haraldsson (995-1030), also known as St. Olaf or Olaf the Stout. He was a Norwegian king who consolidated and strengthened the Christian faith in Norway. His efforts to establish Christianity in the region led to his martyrdom, and he became the patron saint of Norway.
During the Middle Ages, the name Olaf gained popularity across Europe, particularly in areas influenced by Scandinavian culture. One of the most famous bearers was Olaf the Holy (c. 1050-1095), a Norwegian king and saint who played a crucial role in the Norwegian civil wars and the conversion of the country to Christianity.
In the 12th century, Olaf Hvitaskald (c. 1150-1210) was a renowned Icelandic skald (poet) and chieftain. His poetic works, particularly the Óláfsdrápa, were widely celebrated and contributed to the preservation of Old Norse literary traditions.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Olaf Rye (1791-1849) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Norway after the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Olaf throughout history, reflecting its enduring legacy and cultural significance in Scandinavian and European societies.
People
Olaf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Olaf as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Olaf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Olaf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 997 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Olaf 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 343,786 US residents.
Is Olaf a common name?
We classify Olaf as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Olaf most popular?
The single biggest year for Olaf was 1916, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Olaf is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Olaf in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,508 people with the name Olaf, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,287 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 Olaf 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 Olaf?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Olaf appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,504 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Olaf?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olaf is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (2.5%). 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 Olaf most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Olaf in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (1,160 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 Olaf in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Olaf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Olaf 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 Olaf still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Olaf 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 Olaf 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 share the name Olaf?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.