Jolene
A feminine name with uncertain origin, possibly a portmanteau of Jolie and Arlene.
Name Census estimates that about 30,185 living Americans carry the first name Jolene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jolene today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jolene births was 1974 (1,060 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jolene. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jolene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,355 Americans
Peak year
1974
1,060 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1975 SSA rank
#607
Tracked since 1918
Census
Jolene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,118 people with the first name Jolene, which placed it at #1,305 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,305
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
28,118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jolene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jolene is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Jolene described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Jolene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 22,599
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 2,357
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,000
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 848
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 701
- Black or African American2.2% · 613
Gender
Gender distribution for Jolene
Out of the 35,809 babies given the name Jolene since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Jolene as a male name
- Ranked #5,874 in 1975
- 5 male births in 1975
- Peak: 1974 (7 births)
Jolene as a female name
- Ranked #607 in 2024
- 493 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (1,053 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jolene appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,115 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Jolene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jolene from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 6,030 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Jolene remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jolene by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Jolene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jolenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Iowa recorded the most babies named Jolene, while Mississippi, Vermont, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 652 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jolene
The name Jolene is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the French name Jolaine or Jolene. The name is believed to have emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century.
It is thought to be a combination of the French words "jolie," meaning "pretty," and "aine," meaning "eldest daughter." This suggests that the name may have originated as a term of endearment for an attractive eldest daughter.
The earliest recorded use of the name Jolene dates back to the late 19th century, though it was not widespread at the time. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Jolene Shears, born in 1892 in Birmingham, England.
Over the years, the name gained popularity, particularly in the United States. One of the most famous people to bear the name Jolene was Jolene Blalock, an American model and actress born in 1975, best known for her role as T'Pol on the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.
Another notable Jolene was Jolene Sugarbaker, a character played by Jean Smart on the sitcom Designing Women, which aired from 1986 to 1993. The name was also popularized by the Dolly Parton song "Jolene," released in 1973.
Other historical figures with the name Jolene include Jolene Unsoeld, an American mountain climber and environmentalist who was a member of the first American women's team to summit Mount Everest in 1976. She tragically died in an avalanche on Mount Rainier in 1976 at the age of 31.
Jolene Babyak, born in 1953, was an American professional golfer who won several tournaments on the LPGA Tour in the 1970s and 1980s. Jolene Burdge, born in 1961, is a former American tennis player who won the Wimbledon Junior Championships in 1979.
Despite its relatively recent origins, the name Jolene has gained a significant presence in popular culture and has been borne by various notable individuals throughout the 20th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jolene
People
Jolene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jolene as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jolene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jolene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jolene going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 11,355 US residents.
Is Jolene a common name?
We classify Jolene as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 35,809 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jolene most popular?
The single biggest year for Jolene was 1974, when 1,060 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jolene is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jolene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,118 people with the name Jolene, or 9.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,305 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Jolene in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Jolene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jolene appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,115 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Jolene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jolene is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Jolene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jolene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (22,599 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Jolene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jolene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jolene in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Jolene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jolene in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Jolene can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Jolene?
See how many Americans are named Jolene on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.