Onan
A Biblical masculine name meaning "vigorous" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 36 living Americans carry the first name Onan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Onan today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Onan births was 2024 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Onan. 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 Onan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
36
~ 1 in 9,520,954 Americans
Peak year
2024
10 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,131
Tracked since 1921
Census
Onan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 281 people with the first name Onan, which placed it at #30,797 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
#30,797
National first-name rank
People counted
281
281 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Onan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onan is Hispanic at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.2%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Onan 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 Onan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino76.2% · 214
- White14.2% · 40
- Black or African American6.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 5
- Two or more races1.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2
Popularity
Onan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Onan from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 24 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Onan 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 Onan 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 Onan
The given name Onan has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "onan," which means "strong" or "vigorous." The name is closely associated with a character from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament.
In Genesis 38, Onan was the second son of Judah, one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob. According to the biblical account, after his elder brother Er died childless, Onan was instructed to perform the duty of a levirate marriage, which involved him fathering children with his brother's widow, Tamar. However, Onan refused to comply with this custom, and his actions led to his untimely death, as described in the scripture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Onan appears in this biblical narrative, which dates back to around the 15th century BCE. The story of Onan has been interpreted in various ways by different religious traditions and scholars over the centuries, often serving as a cautionary tale or a moral lesson.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the given name Onan, although it has not been a particularly common name. One of the earliest examples is Onan the Ishmaelite, mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (4th century BCE), who was involved in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
In the 1st century CE, there was a Jewish scholar named Onan ben Bathyra, who is mentioned in the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism. He was known for his contributions to the interpretation of Jewish law and tradition.
During the Middle Ages, there was an Onan who served as a bishop of Constance in present-day Germany in the early 9th century CE. He played a role in the religious and political affairs of the Carolingian Empire during that period.
In more recent history, Onan Langen (1859-1909) was a Norwegian novelist and playwright who made significant contributions to the literary scene in Norway during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another notable figure was Onan John Abbott (1856-1936), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas in the early 20th century.
While the name Onan has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and has been borne by individuals throughout history, it has remained a relatively uncommon given name in most societies and time periods.
People
Onan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Onan 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
Onan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Onan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 36 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Onan 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 9,520,954 US residents.
Is Onan a common name?
We classify Onan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Onan most popular?
The single biggest year for Onan was 2024, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Onan is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Onan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 281 people with the name Onan, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,797 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 Onan 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 Onan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Onan leans strongly male. 282 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Onan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Onan is Hispanic at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (14.2%) and Black (6.0%). 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 Onan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Onan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (214 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 Onan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Onan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Onan 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 Onan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Onan 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 Onan 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 Onan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.