Oren
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "pine tree".
Name Census estimates that about 5,459 living Americans carry the first name Oren. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Oren today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oren births was 2021 (156 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oren. 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 Oren with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.5K
~ 1 in 62,787 Americans
Peak year
2021
156 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,380
Tracked since 1880
Census
Oren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,135 people with the first name Oren, which placed it at #3,839 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
#3,839
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,135 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oren is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Oren 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 Oren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.2% · 4,169
- Black or African American6.8% · 349
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 265
- Two or more races4.3% · 223
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 55
Gender
Gender distribution for Oren
Out of the 9,371 babies given the name Oren since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Oren as a male name
- Ranked #1,380 in 2024
- 136 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (151 births)
Oren as a female name
- Ranked #17,138 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2015 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oren leans strongly male. 5,023 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 113 female bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Oren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oren from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,233 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Oren remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oren 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 Oren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Oren, while Tennessee, South Carolina, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oren
The name Oren has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is derived from the Hebrew word "or," which means "light" or "pine tree." The name can be traced back to ancient times in the Middle East and is believed to have been in use among the Israelites and other Semitic peoples of the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Oren is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of a son of Jerahmeel, a descendant of Judah. This reference dates back to around the 6th century BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Oren. One of the most famous was Oren Root (1838-1908), an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of War under President Theodore Roosevelt.
Another prominent figure with the name Oren was Oren Lyons (born 1930), a member of the Onondaga Nation and a respected leader and activist for Native American rights. Lyons played a crucial role in the establishment of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
In the realm of sports, Oren Smadja (born 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Israel who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 67 in the world. He represented Israel in various international tournaments, including the Davis Cup.
Oren Peli (born 1970) is an Israeli-American filmmaker and writer best known for creating the successful horror film franchise "Paranormal Activity." The first installment, released in 2007, became a cultural phenomenon and spawned several sequels.
Lastly, Oren Rudavsky (born 1956) is an American independent filmmaker and professor of film at Ohio State University. He has directed several acclaimed documentary films, including "A Life Apart: Hasidism in America" and "Colliding Dreams," exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Throughout its history, the name Oren has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, encompassing politicians, activists, athletes, filmmakers, and more. Its Hebrew origins and associations with light and nature have contributed to its enduring appeal across cultures and generations.
People
Oren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oren 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
Oren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,459 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oren 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 62,787 US residents.
Is Oren a common name?
We classify Oren as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oren most popular?
The single biggest year for Oren was 2021, when 156 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oren is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,135 people with the name Oren, or 1.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,839 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 Oren 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 Oren?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oren leans strongly male. 5,023 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 113 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Oren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oren is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Oren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (4,169 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 Oren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oren a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Oren 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 Oren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oren 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 Oren 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 have the name Oren?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.