Olana
A Basque feminine name meaning "welcome" or "kind hostess".
Name Census estimates that about 94 living Americans carry the first name Olana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Olana today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Olana births was 2021 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Olana. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Olana. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
94
~ 1 in 3,646,323 Americans
Peak year
2021
10 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,781
Tracked since 2009
Popularity
Olana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Olana 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 51 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Olana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Olana 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 Olana 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 Olana
The name Olana is believed to have its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is derived from the Hawaiian word 'olana', which means 'life' or 'to flourish'. The name is thought to have been in use as early as the 18th century in Hawaii.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Olana was in the late 18th century, when it was the name of a Hawaiian chieftain's daughter. This chieftain, whose name is not known, was a prominent figure in the Hawaiian islands during that time period.
In the 19th century, the name Olana gained some prominence in the United States. One notable person with this name was Olana Bartlett Fowler (1848-1922), an American educator and administrator who served as the first president of the Michigan State Industrial Home for Girls.
Another historical figure with the name Olana was Olana Janssen (1856-1930), a Dutch-American painter and artist who was known for her portraits and landscape paintings. She lived and worked in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the early 20th century, Olana Hickox (1887-1967) was an American writer and poet who published several books of poetry and was a member of the Poetry Society of America.
A more recent historical figure with the name Olana was Olana Canavarro (1920-2005), a Brazilian writer and journalist who wrote several novels and short stories during her career.
While the name Olana has its roots in Hawaiian culture, it has been used by people of various ethnicities and backgrounds throughout history. Its meaning of 'life' or 'to flourish' has likely contributed to its appeal as a given name.
People
Olana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Olana 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
Olana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Olana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 94 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Olana 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 3,646,323 US residents.
Is Olana a common name?
We classify Olana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 95 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Olana most popular?
The single biggest year for Olana was 2021, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Olana is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Olana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Olana in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.