Oberyn
A masculine Gaelic name meaning "descended from an opulent or wealthy heritage".
Name Census estimates that about 110 living Americans carry the first name Oberyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oberyn today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oberyn births was 2019 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oberyn. 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 Oberyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
110
~ 1 in 3,115,949 Americans
Peak year
2019
18 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,589
Tracked since 2015
Popularity
Oberyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oberyn from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 63 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Oberyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oberyn 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 Oberyn 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 Oberyn
The name Oberyn has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, likely stemming from the Old High German name Obirin or the Old Norse name Óbyrr. Both of these names are believed to be derived from the Proto-Germanic root *ober, meaning "superior" or "high-ranking."
In the early medieval period, the name Oberyn was relatively common among the Germanic tribes of central and northern Europe, particularly in areas that are now part of modern-day Germany and Scandinavia. It was often borne by individuals of noble or aristocratic descent, reflecting the connotations of superiority associated with the name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Oberyn can be found in the Nibelungenlied, a famous German epic poem dating back to the 13th century. In this work, Oberyn is mentioned as a minor character, a knight in the service of the legendary hero Siegfried.
Throughout the Middle Ages, several notable individuals bore the name Oberyn. One such figure was Oberyn von Rotenburg (c. 1260 - 1328), a German knight and military commander who fought in the wars between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France. Another was Oberyn Tordsson (c. 1310 - 1375), a Swedish nobleman and statesman who served as a councilor to King Magnus IV.
As the Germanic languages evolved over time, the name Oberyn underwent various transformations and adaptations. In some regions, it was rendered as Oberon or Auberon, which may have influenced the naming of the character Oberon in medieval European literature, such as the French medieval romance Huon of Bordeaux and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
During the Renaissance and early modern periods, the name Oberyn remained in use, though it became less common. One notable bearer was Oberyn von Siebenthal (1543 - 1618), a Swiss military engineer and architect who designed fortifications for several cities in the Holy Roman Empire.
In more recent centuries, the name Oberyn has been relatively rare, though it has occasionally been revived as a given name in certain cultural contexts. For example, the character Oberyn Martell in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series and its television adaptation Game of Thrones has helped to renew interest in the name among some audiences.
People
Oberyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oberyn 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
Oberyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oberyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oberyn 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 3,115,949 US residents.
Is Oberyn a common name?
We classify Oberyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 111 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oberyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Oberyn was 2019, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oberyn is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Oberyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oberyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oberyn 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 Oberyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oberyn 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 Oberyn 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Oberyn?
See how many Americans are named Oberyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.