Ole — #5048 US boys' name
2,101 babies named Ole in U.S. Social Security records since 1880, with the highest year being 1881. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
More common than 65% of names given to boys today.
15% of everyone ever named Ole was born in this single decade.
42 babies were named Ole in 1881 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Ole
The Social Security Administration has registered 2,101 babies named Ole between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Ole currently holds the #5048 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1881, when 42 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Ole performed strongest in the 1880s, accumulating 310 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Ole shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Minnesota, which accounts for 132 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by North Dakota and Washington. In total, SSA state-level files list Ole in 7 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.
No etymological entry is currently available for Ole in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 2,101 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Ole at a glance
Outside the top 1,000Peak year
Current rank
Active since
Ole popularity over time
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2024–1880
- Peak year (1881)
- 42
- Annual births at peak — across 145 years of records
Currently ranks #5048 among boys.
2,101 total births across 145 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1881 with 42 births in a single year.
Ole by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1880s
- 310 births that decade — 15% of Ole's all-time total
Ole decade highlights
- Peak decade 310 births
- Runner-up 280 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1880s was Ole's strongest decade
310 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 15% of all-time use.
Ole by state
Where Ole concentrates geographically — total births since 1880
| Rank | State | Visual share | Births | Share of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Minnesota | | 132 | 6.3% |
| #2 | North Dakota | | 65 | 3.1% |
| #3 | Washington | | 11 | 0.5% |
| #4 | California | | 6 | 0.3% |
| #5 | New York | | 5 | 0.2% |
| #6 | South Dakota | | 5 | 0.2% |
| #7 | Wisconsin | | 5 | 0.2% |
132 of 2,101 births nationwide. Compared to a flat distribution across 7 reporting states.
Top 5 states
- Minnesota 6.3% of nationwide
- North Dakota 3.1% of nationwide
- Washington 0.5% of nationwide
- California 0.3% of nationwide
- New York 0.2% of nationwide
Recorded in 7 of 51 SSA jurisdictions
Minnesota accounts for 6.3% of all recorded births nationwide — a relatively diffuse profile for this name.
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1880–2024 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.