Ohm
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "spiritual energy".
Name Census estimates that about 189 living Americans carry the first name Ohm. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ohm today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ohm births was 2003 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ohm. 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.
People living today
189
~ 1 in 1,813,515 Americans
Peak year
2003
38 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,644
Tracked since 2001
Census
Ohm in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Ohm, which placed it at #33,475 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
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ohm
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ohm is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.2%. The next largest groups are White (8.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.0%). 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 Ohm 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 Ohm at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.2% · 213
- White8.9% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 5
- Black or African American1.2% · 3
- Two or more races1.2% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 1
Popularity
Ohm: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ohm from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 146 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ohm 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 Ohm during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ohms live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ohm
The given name Ohm has its origins in the German language. It is derived from the word "Ohm," which is a unit of electrical resistance named after the German physicist Georg Simon Ohm. The name itself is not a traditional given name but rather a modern name inspired by the scientific term.
Georg Simon Ohm was born in 1789 in Erlangen, Bavaria, and is best known for his groundbreaking work in the field of electricity. In 1827, he published his famous work, "The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically," which laid the foundation for the mathematical theory of electric circuits and introduced the concept of electrical resistance.
The term "ohm" was introduced in his honor to represent the unit of electrical resistance in the International System of Units (SI). It was officially adopted at the International Electrical Congress held in Chicago in 1893, recognizing Ohm's significant contributions to the field of electrical engineering.
While the name Ohm is not a traditional given name, it has been used as a first name, particularly in modern times, as a tribute to the renowned physicist and his scientific achievements. Some notable individuals who have borne the first name Ohm include:
1. Ohm Phanphiriya, a Thai film director and screenwriter born in 1976.
2. Ohm Kruanai, a Thai actor and model born in 1988.
3. Ohm Shanti Shanti, an American singer and songwriter born in 1983.
4. Ohm Youngmisuk, an American sportswriter and journalist born in the 1970s.
5. Ohm Colosyo, a Filipino mixed martial artist and actor born in 1983.
These individuals, although not directly related to Georg Simon Ohm, have adopted the name as a unique and memorable identifier, perhaps inspired by the scientific significance and historical legacy of the term.
It is worth noting that while the name Ohm has gained some popularity in recent years, its usage as a given name remains relatively uncommon, likely due to its unusual origins and association with a scientific unit rather than a traditional name.
People
Ohm + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ohm 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
Ohm: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ohm?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ohm 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 1,813,515 US residents.
Is Ohm a common name?
We classify Ohm as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 191 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ohm most popular?
The single biggest year for Ohm was 2003, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ohm is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ohm in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Ohm, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 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 Ohm 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 Ohm?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ohm leans strongly male. 243 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Ohm?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ohm is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.2%. The next largest groups are White (8.9%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.0%). 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 Ohm most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ohm in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.2% (213 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 Ohm in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ohm a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ohm 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 Ohm still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ohm 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 Ohm 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 called Ohm?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.