Oona
Of Irish origin, meaning "lamb" or "one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,664 living Americans carry the first name Oona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Oona today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oona births was 2015 (131 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oona. 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 Oona with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Oona is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 205,982 Americans
Peak year
2015
131 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,474
Tracked since 1942
Census
Oona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,433 people with the first name Oona, which placed it at #9,619 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
#9,619
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,433 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oona is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.7%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Oona 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 Oona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.8% · 986
- Two or more races11.7% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 138
- Black or African American5.2% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 11
Popularity
Oona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oona from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 718 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Oona remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oona 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 Oona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oonas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Washington recorded the most babies named Oona, while Utah, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oona
The name Oona is believed to have its origins in the Irish language, where it is derived from the Gaelic word "uan," meaning "lamb." The name was popular in Ireland and other Celtic regions during the Middle Ages and has been used as a given name for both males and females.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Oona can be found in the Ulster Annals, a collection of medieval Irish chronicles dating back to the 15th century. The Annals mention an individual named Oona O'Neill, who lived in the late 15th century and was a member of the powerful O'Neill dynasty in Ulster.
In the 16th century, the name Oona gained prominence through its association with St. Oona (also spelled Ona or Una), an Irish nun and abbess who lived in the 6th century. St. Oona founded a convent in County Antrim and is venerated in the Catholic Church for her piety and dedication to religious life.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Oona was Oona O'Neill, the daughter of the famous American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Born in 1925, Oona O'Neill gained notoriety for her marriage to British actor Charlie Chaplin, who was 36 years her senior. Their union caused a significant public scandal due to the age gap but lasted until Chaplin's death in 1977.
Another prominent individual with the name Oona was Oona King, a British politician and former Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. Born in 1967, King served as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow from 1997 to 2005 and was known for her advocacy on issues related to racial equality and social justice.
In the world of literature, Oona Frawley was an Irish-American writer and journalist who lived from 1913 to 1990. She was known for her short stories and novels, which often explored themes of Irish-American identity and the immigrant experience.
While the name Oona has Irish roots, it has also been adopted in other cultures and regions around the world. For instance, Oona Chaplin, a Spanish actress born in 1986, is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O'Neill. Her name serves as a testament to the enduring influence of this unique and historically significant moniker.
People
Oona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oona 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
Oona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,664 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oona 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 205,982 US residents.
Is Oona a common name?
We classify Oona as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,712 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oona most popular?
The single biggest year for Oona was 2015, when 131 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oona is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,433 people with the name Oona, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,619 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 Oona 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 Oona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oona appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,432 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Oona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oona is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.7%) and Hispanic (9.6%). 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 Oona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.8% (986 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 Oona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oona in the SSA data are female. 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 Oona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oona 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 Oona 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 Oona?
You can see how many Americans are named Oona on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.