Oconnor
A masculine Irish given name derived from Ó Conchobhair meaning "descendant of Conchobhar".
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Oconnor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oconnor today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oconnor births was 2015 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oconnor. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Oconnor. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
2015
8 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,603
Tracked since 2006
Census
Oconnor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 115 people with the first name Oconnor, which placed it at #51,185 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
#51,185
National first-name rank
People counted
115
115 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oconnor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oconnor is White at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (7.8%). 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 Oconnor 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 Oconnor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.2% · 75
- Black or African American17.4% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 9
- Two or more races5.2% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
Popularity
Oconnor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oconnor from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Oconnor remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oconnor 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 Oconnor 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 Oconnor
The name Oconnor is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic "Ó Conchobhair," meaning "descendant of Conchobhar." Conchobhar was a popular name in ancient Ireland, derived from the Old Irish words "cú" (hound) and "cobhair" (aid or help), suggesting a meaning along the lines of "hound of valor" or "helper hound."
In the early Middle Ages, the name was associated with the powerful Uí Conchobhair dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of Connacht in western Ireland from the 7th to the 16th century. The most famous bearer of the name was Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair (1088-1156), who became the High King of Ireland in 1121 and is credited with establishing the power and influence of the Uí Conchobhair dynasty.
As the name spread throughout Ireland, it was anglicized to various spellings, including O'Connor, O'Conor, and Oconnor. One of the earliest recorded examples of the anglicized spelling "Oconnor" can be found in the Annals of Ulster, which mention an "Oconnor" in the year 1292.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Oconnor. These include:
1. Charles Oconnor (1804-1884), an American lawyer and legal scholar who served as the president of the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1846.
2. Feargus Oconnor (1794-1855), an Irish political leader and founder of the Chartist movement, which campaigned for democratic reform in Britain.
3. Frank Oconnor (1903-1966), an Irish writer and memoirist, best known for his short stories and memoirs, such as "An Only Child" and "The Memoirs of a Public Baby."
4. Sandra Day Oconnor (born 1930), an American lawyer and jurist who served as the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1981 to 2006.
5. Sinéad Oconnor (born 1966), an Irish singer-songwriter and activist, known for her powerful voice and controversial stances on various social and political issues.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Oconnor, reflecting its rich heritage and enduring presence in various cultures and societies.
People
Oconnor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oconnor 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
Oconnor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oconnor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oconnor 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Oconnor a common name?
We classify Oconnor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oconnor most popular?
The single biggest year for Oconnor was 2015, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oconnor is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oconnor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 115 people with the name Oconnor, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,185 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 Oconnor 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 Oconnor?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Oconnor on both sides of the split. Of the 109 people counted with this name, 82 were male (75.2%) and 27 were female (24.8%). 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 Oconnor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oconnor is White at 65.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (7.8%). 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 Oconnor most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oconnor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.2% (75 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 Oconnor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oconnor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oconnor 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 Oconnor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oconnor 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 Oconnor 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 are named Oconnor?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.