# Ola (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/ola/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “honor”, “forge” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 30,275 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 624 / 29,651 (98% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 336, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Various origins: * Borrowed from Yoruba Ọlá. Ọlá is an extremely common prefix for Yoruba names (and serves as a common form of shortened names), coming from ọlá (“honor”) * Borrowed from Spanish Ola, a habitational surname from Basque ola (“forge”).

## What it means

Ola is grouped under noble.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 14 | 8,523 |
| 2012 | 6 | 16,357 |
| 2013 | 9 | 11,726 |
| 2014 | 9 | 11,697 |
| 2015 | 18 | 6,917 |
| 2016 | 19 | 6,610 |
| 2017 | 17 | 7,027 |
| 2018 | 11 | 9,654 |
| 2019 | 13 | 8,491 |
| 2020 | 14 | 7,858 |
| 2021 | 10 | 10,127 |
| 2022 | 12 | 8,914 |
| 2023 | 17 | 6,861 |
| 2024 | 16 | 7,177 |
| 2025 | 13 | 8,227 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 | 10 | 2,436 |
| 1939 | 7 | 3,037 |
| 1940 | 6 | 3,368 |
| 1941 | 11 | 2,296 |
| 1943 | 8 | 2,901 |
| 1944 | 9 | 2,584 |
| 1946 | 6 | 3,425 |
| 1948 | 9 | 2,739 |
| 1950 | 5 | 4,052 |
| 1951 | 6 | 3,617 |
| 1953 | 6 | 3,687 |
| 1954 | 5 | 4,211 |
| 1970 | 6 | 4,583 |
| 1976 | 7 | 4,780 |
| 1980 | 5 | 6,989 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 18 | 1,608 |
| 2012 | 13 | 2,095 |
| 2013 | 16 | 1,774 |
| 2014 | 17 | 1,702 |
| 2015 | 26 | 1,279 |
| 2016 | 16 | 1,834 |
| 2017 | 15 | 1,911 |
| 2018 | 14 | 1,977 |
| 2019 | 10 | 2,458 |
| 2020 | 16 | 1,773 |
| 2021 | 15 | 1,866 |
| 2022 | 20 | 1,501 |
| 2023 | 18 | 1,640 |
| 2024 | 17 | 1,743 |
| 2025 | 11 | 2,440 |

## People named Ola

- Ola John, Dutch association football player
- Ola Solbakken, association football player
- Ola Brown, British-Nigerian medical doctor, healthcare entrepreneur
- Ola Ray, American actress
- Ola Afolabi, British boxer
- Ola Balogun, film director
- Ola Hudson, American fashion designer and costumier (1946–2009)
- Ola Cohn, Australian artist, sculptor (1892–1964)
- August Lindbergh, (1808-1893) American farmer, politician

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.