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Olaf vs Olamae

American parents have registered 2,531 Olafs since 1880, against 182 Olamaes. Olaf is still ahead, with 5 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Olaf against Olamae, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Olaf Olamae

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Olaf has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1938, when Olaf had 15 and Olamae had 6.

Side by side

  Olaf Olamae
Total US births 2,531182
Most in one year 7911
Babies in 2025 5under 5
Estimated living today 93020
Median age today 4585
Peak year 19161918
Best rank 662nd boys2,822nd girls
Rank in 2025 12,008thunranked
First recorded 18801912
Girls / boys 0 / 2,531182 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Olamaes alive today are over 85; half the Olafs are over 45. That is 40 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Olaf and Olamae.