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Ove

Boys' name

From Old Danish Aghi; literal meaning unconfirmed

Ove has been given to 40 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1931, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Ove, 1934

1 in 415,000

Ove over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0246818801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ove: meaning, origin, and history

From Old Danish Aghi; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ove means

Ove is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Ove is used in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.

Ove comes through Old Danish Aghi.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Swedish, Ove is pronounced /²uːvɛ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 40 boys were recorded with the name Ove between 1915 and 1934. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1931; its best national rank was #3,320 in 1931.

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 Ove?

Ove had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1934, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1934
1 in 415,000
5 of 2,076,780 births
Among boys only
1 in 207,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1934
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
287,904 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ove 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 1934 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 287,904 children born in 1934 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ove. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Oves were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ove was born before 1923 — so the typical Ove is around 102 today.

Median birth year
1923
About 102 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
40.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
0
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 40.0% of all recorded uses (16).

Is Ove 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1931 (7)
Years since peak
94
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#3,320
1931

Ove around the world

Where Ove 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.

  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #393
    in 2025

Popularity data from Statistics Norway. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Ove by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,320
1931
Peak year
1931
7 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
1934
All-time count
40
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ove

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

OvelOvedOveyDoveJoveOvellKoveGroveLoveCoveOverton

Sibling names for Ove

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 Ove

Top names of 1931, Ove's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1931Boys' names starting with ONorwegian Boy Names