Oleg

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Alex in BR Brazil, US United States, PE Peru and 16 more, Алексей in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 3 more, Олексій in UA Ukraine and Oleh in PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Oleg is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name69K records spelled Oleg12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, German, Norwegian Bokmål

  Also written Olĕg

• Uzbek given name4.2K records spelled Oleg16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine

  Languages: Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz

  Also written Олег, Oleğ, Òlèg

• Arabic given name3.2K records spelled Oleg3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, United States, United Arab Emirates

  Languages: Arabic, Maltese

  Also written Oleg️️️️️️️

63 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Oleg is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Russian name, from Russian; meaning “happy”.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• From Old Norse Helgi ‘prosperous’. This was the name of a Scandinavian leader who established the city of Kiev.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Russian, ancient Scandanavian name.

  as a word·A Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)

• In English, A male given name from the Slavic languages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Se Helge.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 37 years between 1959–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Oleg the Wiseb. 845SEprince of Kiev
• Oleg Antonovb. 1906RUSoviet aeroplane designer (1906-1984)
• Oleg Cassinib. 1913FRAmerican fashion designer (1913–2006)
• Oleg Yefremovb. 1927RUSoviet and Russian actor and theatre director (1927–2000)
• Oleg Tabakovb. 1935RUSoviet and Russian actor and theatre director (1935–2018)
• Oleg Yankovskyb. 1944RUSoviet and Russian actor (1944-2009)
• Oleg Gazmanovb. 1951RURussian singer (1951)
• Oleg Blokhinb. 1952UAUkrainian footballer, coach, and politician
• Oleg Salenkob. 1969RURussian-Ukrainian footballer (born 1969)
• Oleg Sentsovb. 1976UAUkrainian filmmaker and activist (born 1976)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 311 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Oleg?

We estimate roughly 1.0 million people bear Oleg (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Oleg have the most bearers?

Oleg is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled алексей.

How common is Oleg compared with other names?

In Russia, Oleg is the 5th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Oleg a male or female name?

Oleg is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Oleg mean?

Recorded meaning: Slavic name, from Old Norse Helgi 'holy, blessed'.