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Ole

#4,819 in 2025Boys' name

Ancestor + remainder, through Olaf

Ole has been given to 2,125 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #4,819 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1881, with 42 recorded.

Babies named Ole, 2025

1 in 158,000

Ole over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ole: meaning, origin, and history

Ancestor + remainder, through Olaf

Danish and Old Norse

What Ole means

Ole belongs to the name family reached through Ole → Ole → Olaf → Óláfr. Its meaning is “ancestor + remainder”.

Origin, language, and formation

Ole is used in English, Danish, German and Norwegian Nynorsk. Its origins include Danish and Old Norse.

Ole comes through Danish Ole.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Olaf, Óláfr and Ole.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Ole is pronounced /ˈʔoːlə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,125 boys were recorded with the name Ole between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 42 in 1881; its best national rank was #242 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,376 in 2020 to #4,819 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,218 in 2015 to #4,819 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ole?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 158,000
21 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 81,300
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,819
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
109,425 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ole sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 109,425 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ole. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Oles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ole was born before 1928 — so the typical Ole is around 97 today.

Median birth year
1928
About 97 years old
Biggest decade
1880s
14.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
16.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
765
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1880s — 14.6% of all recorded uses (310).

Is Ole rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+182
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−443
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+399
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.17×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
50.0%
Peak was 1881 (42)
Years since peak
144
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#242
1881

Where Ole is used

Across 1910–2025, Ole was most concentrated in North Dakota — about 1 in 9,091 boys, against 1 in 172,788 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

011 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Dakota1 in 9,091
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 25,000
  3. 3South Dakota1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in —
  5. 5New York1 in —
  6. 6Washington1 in —
  7. 7Wisconsin1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Ole has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ole around the world

Where Ole ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1998–2022
    #4,790
    in 2022
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #52
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2017–2022
    #2,335
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1955–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Ole

People whose public names include Ole, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Ole in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Ole. Linked forms have their own page here.

OlaOlleOlsen

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Ole by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,819
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 443
Best rank ever
#242
1881
Peak year
1881
42 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,125
Count in 2025
21

Names similar to Ole

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

OlenOlegKoleOleyNicoleOlegarioNoleOlehColeOleeOlekAnatoleCaroleOleanderKholeOleanOleksandrNicholeOlesErcoleOleksiyJoleKolawoleOlester

Names with a curve like Ole

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Ole, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ArchWashingtonGreenGustavJudgePearlDockAllieGeneralGarfieldGustaveNat

Sibling names for Ole

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ole

Top names of 1881, Ole's peak yearThe 1880s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881More old man namesBoys' names starting with ONorwegian Boy NamesShort Danish Boy Names