Oleg
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin meaning "prosperous" or "holy".
Name Census estimates that about 449 living Americans carry the first name Oleg. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oleg today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oleg births was 2019 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oleg. 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 Oleg with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
449
~ 1 in 763,373 Americans
Peak year
2019
26 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,906
Tracked since 1959
Census
Oleg in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,781 people with the first name Oleg, which placed it at #2,922 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
#2,922
National first-name rank
People counted
7.8K
7,781 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oleg
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oleg is White at 97.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (1.0%) and Hispanic (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 Oleg 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 Oleg at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.0% · 7,546
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 69
- Two or more races0.9% · 69
- Black or African American0.2% · 16
Popularity
Oleg: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oleg from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 165 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oleg 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 Oleg during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Olegs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Washington, Texas recorded the most babies named Oleg, while Florida, Texas, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oleg
The name Oleg has its origins in the Slavic languages, with its roots dating back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Old Norse name Olggr, which in turn comes from the Old East Norse word 'hólmr', meaning 'small island' or 'dry land in a fen'. Variant spellings of the name include Olah, Olech, and Olek.
One of the earliest and most notable historical references to the name Oleg can be found in the Russian Primary Chronicle, a medieval historical text written in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The chronicle documents the life and reign of Prince Oleg of Novgorod, who ruled as the Prince of Kievan Rus' from 879 to 912 AD. According to legend, Oleg was instrumental in the consolidation of the Rus' lands and the founding of the Kievan Rus' state.
Another famous bearer of the name was Oleg Konstantinovich, Prince of Chernigov, who lived from 1050 to 1115 AD. He was a prominent figure in the struggle for power among the princes of Kievan Rus' and played a significant role in the conflicts between the principalities of Chernigov and Kyiv.
In the 19th century, Oleg Mikhailovich Ostroumov (1825-1891) was a notable Russian painter and academic artist known for his historical and religious works. His paintings can be found in various museums and churches across Russia.
Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov (1906-1984) was a prominent Soviet aircraft designer and scientist, best known for his contributions to the development of large cargo aircraft, including the Antonov An-124 Ruslan and the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest cargo aircraft ever built.
More recently, Oleg Deripaska (born 1968) is a prominent Russian businessman and industrialist, known for his involvement in the aluminum and metals industries. He has been one of the richest people in Russia and has been involved in various business and political controversies.
While the name Oleg has its roots in the Slavic languages and cultures, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. However, its usage and historical significance remain most closely tied to its Slavic origins and the notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
People
Oleg + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oleg 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
Oleg: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oleg?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 449 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oleg 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 763,373 US residents.
Is Oleg a common name?
We classify Oleg as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 457 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oleg most popular?
The single biggest year for Oleg was 2019, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oleg is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oleg in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,781 people with the name Oleg, or 2.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,922 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 Oleg 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 Oleg?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oleg appears almost entirely male. Of the 7,785 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Oleg?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oleg is White at 97.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (1.0%) and Hispanic (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 Oleg most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oleg in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.0% (7,546 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 Oleg in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oleg a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oleg 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 Oleg still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oleg 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 Oleg 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 Oleg?
Want to know how many Americans are named Oleg? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.