Orenthal
A masculine given name derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "orentil", meaning "precious stone".
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Orenthal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orenthal today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orenthal births was 1977 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orenthal. 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
258
~ 1 in 1,328,505 Americans
Peak year
1977
28 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,831
Tracked since 1968
Census
Orenthal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 232 people with the first name Orenthal, which placed it at #34,960 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
#34,960
National first-name rank
People counted
232
232 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orenthal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orenthal is Black at 92.7%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (2.2%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Orenthal 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 Orenthal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.7% · 215
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 5
- Two or more races2.2% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
- White0.9% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
Popularity
Orenthal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orenthal from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 171 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orenthal 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 Orenthal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orenthals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, Florida, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Orenthal, while South Carolina, Florida, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orenthal
The given name Orenthal is an unusual and intriguing one, with a history that is shrouded in obscurity and speculation. Some scholars trace its origins to ancient Germanic languages, where it may have derived from a combination of words meaning "golden" and "ruler" or "leader." Others suggest it has roots in old Slavic tongues, with possible connections to words implying strength and resilience.
Regardless of its precise linguistic origins, the name Orenthal appears to have first emerged in various parts of central and eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. There are scattered records of individuals bearing this moniker in medieval chronicles and tax rolls from regions as diverse as Saxony, Bohemia, and the Balkans.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Orenthal was a minor knight from the Duchy of Pomerania, who lived in the late 12th century. Though little is known about his life, his name is recorded in a few surviving documents from the period.
In the 15th century, an Orenthal von Richtenberg was a prominent merchant and landowner in the city of Nuremberg. He played a role in the political intrigues of the time and is mentioned in several historical accounts of the era.
During the Renaissance, an Italian humanist scholar named Orenthal Machiavelli gained some renown for his writings on philosophy and ethics, though he was not related to the more famous Niccolò Machiavelli.
In the 17th century, an Orenthal Kaempfer was a German naturalist and explorer who traveled extensively in Asia and wrote influential accounts of his journeys and observations.
Another figure of note was Orenthal Czernichowski, a Polish military officer who fought against the Swedish invaders during the Deluge of the mid-17th century and later wrote memoirs of his experiences.
As the centuries passed, the name Orenthal seems to have become increasingly rare, with only a handful of individuals bearing it in more recent times. Its resurgence in the modern era is largely due to its association with a certain famous American athlete and actor, who was bestowed with this distinctive appellation at birth.
People
Orenthal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orenthal 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
Orenthal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orenthal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orenthal 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 1,328,505 US residents.
Is Orenthal a common name?
We classify Orenthal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 277 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orenthal most popular?
The single biggest year for Orenthal was 1977, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orenthal is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orenthal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 232 people with the name Orenthal, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,960 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 Orenthal 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 Orenthal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orenthal appears almost entirely male. Of the 234 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Orenthal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orenthal is Black at 92.7%. The next largest groups are American Indian/Alaska Native (2.2%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Orenthal most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Orenthal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.7% (215 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 Orenthal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orenthal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orenthal 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 Orenthal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orenthal 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 Orenthal 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 Orenthal?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Orenthal, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.