Ove
A masculine Scandinavian name meaning "ancestor's descendant" or "descendant of the family".
Name Census estimates that about 2 living Americans carry the first name Ove. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ove today is around 116 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ove births was 1931 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ove. 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
- • The typical person named Ove is about 116 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Oves were born before 1920.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ove. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
2
~ 1 in 171,377,169 Americans
Peak year
1931
7 babies that year
Average age
116
years old
1934 SSA rank
#4,081
Tracked since 1915
Census
Ove in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 155 people with the first name Ove, which placed it at #44,540 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
#44,540
National first-name rank
People counted
155
155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ove
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ove is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Ove 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 Ove at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.0% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 20
- Two or more races3.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 4
- Black or African American1.3% · 2
Popularity
Ove: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ove from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Ove remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ove 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 Ove 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 Ove
The name Ove has its origins in Old Norse and is derived from the word "av", meaning "ancestor" or "descendant". It was a popular name among the ancient Norse people who inhabited Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries AD).
One of the earliest known references to the name Ove can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of medieval literary works that document the lives and adventures of notable figures from Norse history. The name appears in several of these sagas, suggesting its widespread use during that time period.
In the realm of mythology, there is a character named Ove mentioned in the Poetic Edda, an ancient collection of Old Norse poems. However, little is known about the significance of this particular Ove within the context of Norse mythology.
The name Ove has also been recorded in various historical documents and records throughout the centuries. One notable individual with this name was Ove Bjelke (1611-1639), a Swedish military officer who fought in the Thirty Years' War. Another was Ove Malling (1747-1829), a Danish writer and philosopher who was a prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.
In more recent times, the name Ove has been associated with several notable individuals, such as Ove Arup (1895-1988), a Danish engineer and philosopher who founded the renowned engineering firm Arup. Ove Kindvall (1912-2008) was a Swedish author and journalist who wrote extensively about nature and the environment.
Additionally, the name Ove was borne by Ove Fundin (1915-2008), a Swedish actor known for his roles in numerous films and television shows, and Ove Andersson (1938-2008), a Swedish rally driver and motorsport engineer who made significant contributions to the development of rally cars.
While the name Ove may have fallen out of widespread use in recent times, it remains a part of the cultural heritage of Scandinavia and serves as a reminder of the rich history and traditions of the ancient Norse people.
People
Ove + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ove 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
Ove: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ove?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ove 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 171,377,169 US residents.
Is Ove a common name?
We classify Ove as "Very Rare". It ranks above 4.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ove most popular?
The single biggest year for Ove was 1931, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ove is about 116 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ove in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 155 people with the name Ove, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,540 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 Ove 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 Ove?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ove leans strongly male. 151 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 4 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Ove?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ove is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Ove most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ove in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (124 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 Ove in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ove a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ove 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 Ove still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ove 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 Ove 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 have Ove as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.