Olman
A masculine name of Scandinavian origin with uncertain meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 143 living Americans carry the first name Olman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Olman today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Olman births was 2009 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Olman. 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.
People living today
143
~ 1 in 2,396,883 Americans
Peak year
2009
14 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,908
Tracked since 2001
Census
Olman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 809 people with the first name Olman, which placed it at #14,548 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
#14,548
National first-name rank
People counted
809
809 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Olman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olman is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Olman 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 Olman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.9% · 776
- White2.5% · 20
- Black or African American1.1% · 9
- Two or more races0.2% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Olman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Olman from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 58 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Olman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Olman 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 Olman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Olman
The name Olman is a variant of the Scandinavian name Olaf, which is derived from the Old Norse compound name Áleifr. Áleifr is composed of the elements anu, meaning "ancestor," and leifr, meaning "heir" or "descendant." This suggests that the name Olman may have originated as a name given to those who were considered heirs or descendants of a respected ancestor.
The name Olaf, and by extension Olman, has its roots in the Viking culture of Scandinavia, particularly in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries. The name was popular among the Norse people and was borne by several notable figures in Norse mythology and history.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Olaf was Olaf Tryggvason, a Norwegian king who ruled from 995 to 1000 AD. He played a significant role in the Christianization of Norway and is remembered for his military victories against various Viking factions. Another notable Olaf was Olaf II Haraldsson, also known as Olaf the Stout or Olaf the Holy, who was the King of Norway from 1015 to 1028 AD. He was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church and is celebrated as the patron saint of Norway.
In the 12th century, the name Olman appears in the Old English Bestiary, a collection of medieval texts describing various animals, both real and mythical. This suggests that the name may have been in use in England during that time period.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have borne the name Olman. These include Olman Borst (1616-1695), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings; Olman Tynker (1825-1899), an English inventor and engineer credited with the development of the first practical steam-powered plough; and Olman Grainger (1892-1967), a British composer and folk song collector who was instrumental in preserving and promoting English folk music.
While the name Olman has its roots in Scandinavian culture and history, it has been adopted and used by various cultures and communities around the world over the centuries, although it has remained relatively uncommon compared to its more popular variant, Olaf.
People
Olman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Olman as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Olman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Olman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Olman 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 2,396,883 US residents.
Is Olman a common name?
We classify Olman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 144 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Olman most popular?
The single biggest year for Olman was 2009, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Olman is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Olman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 809 people with the name Olman, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,548 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 Olman 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 Olman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Olman appears almost entirely male. Of the 805 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Olman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Olman is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Black (1.1%). 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 Olman most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Olman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (776 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 Olman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Olman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Olman in the SSA data are male. 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 Olman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Olman 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 Olman 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 many people have Olman as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Olman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.