Ole
Ole was given to 21 boys in 2025, #4,819 among boys’ names; 2,125 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ole by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ole mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ole is “a male given name from Danish.”
Borrowed from Danish Ole.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ole?
#4,819 among boys’ names, 2025
Ole rose from #5,218 in 2015 to #4,819 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 9.4 to 12.3 per million.
42 babies in 1881, the peak
Ole peaked in 1881, when 42 boys were given it, #242 among boys’ names. The 21 births of 2025 are 50% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | #4,819 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 20 | #5,001 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 19 | #5,192 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 10 | #8,144 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 24 | #4,328 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 23 | #4,376 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 22 | #4,595 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 21 | #4,695 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 21 | #4,696 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 21 | #4,727 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #5,218 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 23 | #4,352 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 13 | #6,506 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 8 | #9,470 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #11,865 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 12 | #6,972 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 8 | #9,626 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 6 | #12,157 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 9 | #8,712 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 6 | #11,657 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 9 | #8,109 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 8 | #8,701 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #8,405 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 11 | #6,315 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 10 | #6,688 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 7 | #8,461 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 7 | #7,525 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 5 | #9,098 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #7,796 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 8 | #5,196 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 11 | #3,878 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 8 | #4,833 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,825 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,211 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 10 | #3,778 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,771 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 9 | #3,919 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #3,186 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 9 | #3,751 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,374 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 14 | #2,652 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 11 | #3,017 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 7 | #3,831 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 14 | #2,273 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 10 | #2,722 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,454 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 12 | #2,434 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,516 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 14 | #2,275 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 10 | #2,794 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 17 | #2,051 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 11 | #2,645 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,770 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 17 | #1,998 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #2,775 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 17 | #2,001 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 20 | #1,769 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 18 | #1,872 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,687 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 19 | #1,789 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 21 | #1,669 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,537 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 15 | #2,004 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,408 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,814 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 15 | #1,930 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,349 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,163 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,250 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 11 | #2,352 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,297 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,437 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,256 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,438 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 15 | #1,893 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,707 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 16 | #1,814 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,909 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,812 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 15 | #1,976 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,024 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 28 | #1,389 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 20 | #1,713 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,357 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 28 | #1,428 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 21 | #1,699 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 20 | #1,786 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 20 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,411 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 27 | #1,460 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,629 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 31 | #1,313 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 35 | #1,204 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 40 | #1,088 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 38 | #1,089 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 27 | #1,324 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 41 | #993 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 30 | #1,042 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 26 | #987 | 0.05 |
| 1912 | 24 | #932 | 0.06 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,099 | 0.05 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,279 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 13 | #829 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 9 | #1,002 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 10 | #916 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,206 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 9 | #899 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 9 | #856 | 0.07 |
| 1903 | 17 | #545 | 0.14 |
| 1902 | 15 | #578 | 0.12 |
| 1901 | 17 | #485 | 0.16 |
| 1900 | 17 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1899 | 11 | #648 | 0.10 |
| 1898 | 13 | #627 | 0.11 |
| 1897 | 15 | #541 | 0.13 |
| 1896 | 19 | #476 | 0.16 |
| 1895 | 20 | #450 | 0.17 |
| 1894 | 19 | #455 | 0.16 |
| 1893 | 14 | #527 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 16 | #513 | 0.13 |
| 1891 | 14 | #490 | 0.14 |
| 1890 | 24 | #368 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 20 | #413 | 0.18 |
| 1888 | 40 | #284 | 0.33 |
| 1887 | 19 | #386 | 0.19 |
| 1886 | 28 | #324 | 0.25 |
| 1885 | 31 | #306 | 0.29 |
| 1884 | 30 | #323 | 0.26 |
| 1883 | 35 | #281 | 0.33 |
| 1882 | 36 | #287 | 0.32 |
| 1881 | 42 | #242 | 0.42 |
| 1880 | 29 | #315 | 0.26 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ole a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ole has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 132 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ole: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ole, and how old are they?
An estimated 746 Americans named Ole and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (35% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 10 and 65. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,104 people named Ole (24 women and girls, 1,080 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 708 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ole born?
The states with the most babies named Ole are Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington, with 89% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota and North Dakota and Washington are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 138 | #780 | 4.3× |
| North Dakota | 65 | not ranked | 7.7× |
| Washington | 11 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New York | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| California | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| South Dakota | 5 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Ole is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ole is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 4.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ole with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 3,926 babies since 1880, Ole is the most given (54% of them). In 2025 it was given to 21 of their 59 babies (36%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ole
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ole and names like it
- Compare Ole and OlieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1880sOle peaked in 1881.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ole since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Ole: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1881The year the most babies were named Ole.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Ole alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with OMost given first.