Olajuwon
Masculine · “Yoruba ola”
Ola is honor or wealth in Yoruba, and it opens a large family of names: Olawale, Oladele, Olusegun, Olabisi. Olajuwon is one of them, and in Yoruba it is a surname. In the United States it became a first name, which is a change of grammatical category as well as of country.
How old is the name Olajuwon?
Olajuwon first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Olajuwon alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 600 people named Olajuwon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Olajuwon most popular?
Olajuwon peaked in 1986, reaching #1363 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 7,547 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ola to Olajuwon
The story of Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon arrived at the University of Houston from Lagos in 1980, was the first pick of the 1984 NBA draft, and took the Rockets to the finals in 1986. The American name's peak is that year, which is early in the career and unusual for an athlete; the explanation is that the name was entirely unfamiliar before he arrived and had nowhere else to come from, so the response is sharper than for a name already in circulation. What crossed the Atlantic was a surname. In Yoruba practice Olajuwon is a family name and Hakeem, an Arabic name, is the personal one, so the American usage inverts the structure entirely. That happens often to African names in the United States, and it is worth stating plainly rather than letting a reference book present the surname as a Yoruba given name.
Meaningscholars disagree
Yoruba ola, wealth or honor
Olajuwon is a Yoruba name built on ola, wealth, honor or dignity, an element that opens many Yoruba names. Readings of the full compound vary and it is usually given as something like wealth or honor is above, or honor and wealth are together. Yoruba is tonal and the tones, which distinguish meanings, are not written in English spelling. The American peak is 1986.
How the name formed
- ola
- Olajuwon
Related forms: Olajuwon · Olajawon
Pronouncing Olajuwon
oh-lah-JOO-wahn
Four syllables. Yoruba is tonal and the tones carry meaning; English spelling records none of them, so the American pronunciation loses information the original had.
Nicknames for Olajuwon
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1983
- Most boys named
- 199458 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1363reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%8 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Olajuwon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Olajuwon in Yoruba — same name
- Olajawon in English — spelling variant
Olajuwons among us
people named Olajuwon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Olajuwon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Howie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Olajuwon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Howie climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Howie's path sketches the road Olajuwon is walking now.
Olajuwon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Olajuwon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Olajuwon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ola is a complete Yoruba name and works as a short form.
- Four syllables with open, easy vowels.
- The Yoruba element ola has a clear documented meaning.
- In Yoruba it is a surname rather than a given name.
- The tones, which carry meaning, are lost in English.
- It is closely identified with one athlete.
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Olajuwon
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Olajuwons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Olajuwon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Olajuwon in 2025?
- Olajuwon ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Olajuwon?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Olajuwon — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Olajuwon with classmates?
- Olajuwon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Olajuwon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Olajuwon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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