Ole
Masculine · “ancestor's descendant”
Ole is the Norwegian and Danish form of Olaf, a name carried by kings and by the saint who converted Norway — and it arrived in America with one of the largest Scandinavian emigrations in history.
How old is the name Ole?
Ole was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ole alive today was born around 1925, making them about 100 years old. About 800 people named Ole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ole most popular?
Ole peaked in 1881, reaching #237 nationally. Today it ranks #4707, 4,470 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Áleifr to Ole
The story of Ole
Olaf II of Norway was killed at Stiklestad in 1030 and canonized soon after, becoming the country's patron saint and making his name one of the most-given in Scandinavia for a thousand years. Norwegian and Danish contracted it to Ole. The great Scandinavian emigration to the American Midwest in the nineteenth century brought the name in very large numbers, and it peaked in American records around 1885.
Meaning
ancestor's descendant
From the Old Norse Áleifr — anu, 'ancestor', and leifr, 'descendant' or 'heir'. The compound describes inheritance in the most direct way a name can: the one who comes after the forefathers. Olaf, Olav and Ole are all forms of it.
How the name formed
- Áleifr
- Olaf
- Ole
Related forms: Ole · Ole · Olof · Oleg
Pronouncing Ole
OH-luh
Two syllables in Norwegian and Danish, with a light second vowel. American English often flattens it to OH-lee.
Nicknames for Ole
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191541 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #237reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +110.0%21 in 2025, from 10
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.
Ole in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ole in Norwegian — same name
- Ole in Danish — same name
- Olof in Swedish — related form
- Oleg in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Minnesota, Washington.
Oles among us
people named Ole are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 81,337 born in 2025 was named Ole
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ole 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
Ole beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ole in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Scandinavian royal and saint's name with a thousand-year record.
- It is spelled identically in Norwegian and Danish, so it crosses those borders unchanged.
- Short, simple and easy for a young child to write.
- The Scandinavian and American pronunciations differ noticeably.
- It coincides with the Spanish exclamation olé, which is spelled and stressed differently.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Ole
Masculine · #4707 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Oles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ole in 2025?
- Ole ranks #4707 among US boy names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ole?
- About 1 in every 81,337 US boys born in 2025 was named Ole — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ole with classmates?
- Ole will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ole
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Shelton#4707 · Constantino#4707 · Adel#4707 · Cord#4707 · Zalman#4707 · Montez#4707 · Kalani#4707 · Homer#4707
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ole? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ole and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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