Holding steady.
Popularity of Olean since 1900
Babies named Olean per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1921, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Olean's real moment was 1933.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 48 |
| 1910s | 193 |
| 1920s | 301 |
| 1930s | 180 |
| 1940s | 97 |
| 1950s | 29 |
| 1960s | 5 |
| 1970s | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 |
| 1990s | 0 |
| 2000s | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Olean is a rare American coinage from the early 20th century, first recorded in 1900. It reached its peak popularity in 1933, when it saw its highest number of births. Since then, its usage has remained extremely low, with only scattered births in recent decades. The name's trajectory has been stable at very low numbers, and it has never ranked among the top 1000 names. While it may have been inspired by the oleander plant or similar names, its exact origins remain uncertain, fitting the pattern of many invented names from that era.
Olean appears to be a 20th-century American coinage, first recorded in 1900. It may have been invented as a feminine name influenced by the flowering shrub 'oleander' or as a variant of names like Olena or Oline. The suffix '-ean' was popular in the early 1900s for creating novel names. Its usage peaked in the 1930s and has since become rare.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Ollie, Lea, Annie
Sibling names for Olean
Names that share Olean's style, for a brother or sister.
