Jolene is a 20th-century American name — a feminine elaboration of Joe / Joseph + the -lene suffix popular in mid-century US naming. "Jolene" (1973) — Dolly Parton's signature song; reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart; the unforgettable opening four-syllable pleading invocation to the woman trying to steal her man has been covered hundreds of times — most-notably by The White Stripes (2000), Mindy Smith (2003, with Dolly herself), Miley Cyrus (2012, 2024), Beyoncé (on Cowboy Carter, 2024), and Lil Nas X. "Jolene" has been streamed over 1 billion times across platforms; included on multiple "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" lists by Rolling Stone, NME, and Pitchfork. Parton has said the song was inspired by both a red-headed bank teller who flirted with her husband Carl Dean and a young fan named Jolene who took her name in the 1970s. Jolene Anderson — Australian actress. Jolene Anderson Heller — American Beauty set decorator. Jolene Edgar — beauty editor.
Jolene does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Jolene reduce to 7, The Seeker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.