Ole
A Norwegian masculine given name of Old Norse origin meaning "ancestor's descendant".
Name Census estimates that about 790 living Americans carry the first name Ole. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ole today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ole births was 1881 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ole. 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 Ole with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
790
~ 1 in 433,866 Americans
Peak year
1881
42 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,178
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ole in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,110 people with the first name Ole, which placed it at #11,508 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
#11,508
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,110 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ole
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ole is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Ole 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 Ole at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.6% · 950
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 50
- Black or African American3.1% · 34
- Two or more races2.9% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 21
Popularity
Ole: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ole from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1880s, with 310 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1880s peak, Ole remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ole 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 Ole during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Minnesota, North Dakota, Washington recorded the most babies named Ole, while Wisconsin, South Dakota, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ole
Ole is a masculine given name of Norse origin, derived from the Old Norse word "óli," which means "ancestral" or "progenitor." The name has been in use since ancient times and can be traced back to the Viking era in Scandinavia.
The name Ole is believed to have originated in Norway, where it was commonly used among the Norse people. It gained popularity throughout the region and eventually spread to other parts of Europe, particularly in areas influenced by Norse culture and settlements.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ole can be found in the Icelandic sagas, which are literary works that recount the stories and legends of the Norse people. In these sagas, several characters bear the name Ole, indicating its widespread use during the Viking Age.
Throughout history, there have been notable individuals who carried the name Ole. One of the most famous was Ole Worm (1588-1654), a Danish naturalist, antiquarian, and physician who made significant contributions to the fields of archaeology and natural history.
Another prominent figure was Ole Bull (1810-1880), a Norwegian violinist and composer who was renowned for his virtuosic performances and pioneering work in establishing Norwegian folk music as a distinct genre.
In the realm of literature, Ole Rolvaag (1876-1931) was a Norwegian-American novelist and educator who is best known for his novel "Giants in the Earth," which depicts the struggles of Norwegian immigrants in the American West.
The name Ole also found its way into the world of sports, with Ole Evinrude (1877-1933), a Norwegian-American inventor who revolutionized the outboard motor industry and founded the Evinrude Outboard Motor Company.
Lastly, Ole Gunnar Solskjær (born 1973) is a former Norwegian professional footballer and current manager of Manchester United, one of the most successful and renowned football clubs in the world.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Ole throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence across various fields and cultural contexts.
People
Ole + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ole 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
Ole: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ole?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 790 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ole 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 433,866 US residents.
Is Ole a common name?
We classify Ole as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,101 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ole most popular?
The single biggest year for Ole was 1881, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ole is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ole in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,110 people with the name Ole, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,508 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 Ole 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 Ole?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ole leans strongly male. 1,080 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 24 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Ole?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ole is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Ole most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ole in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (950 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 Ole in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ole a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ole 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 Ole still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ole 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 Ole 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 Ole?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.