Orfa
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly related to the word "orphan".
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Orfa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Orfa today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orfa births was 1949 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orfa. 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 Orfa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
1949
5 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1993 SSA rank
#15,107
Tracked since 1949
Census
Orfa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 712 people with the first name Orfa, which placed it at #15,985 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
#15,985
National first-name rank
People counted
712
712 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orfa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orfa is Hispanic at 96.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Orfa 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 Orfa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino96.8% · 689
- White1.4% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 6
- Black or African American0.4% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
- Two or more races0.1% · 1
Popularity
Orfa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orfa from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5 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
Orfa 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 Orfa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orfas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Orfa
The name Orfa is believed to have originated from the ancient Semitic languages spoken in the Middle East. Its roots can be traced back to the Aramaic word "arpah," which means "cloud" or "mist." This suggests that the name may have been associated with the natural world and atmospheric phenomena.
In early Christian texts, such as the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas, there is a reference to a city called "Orfa" or "Edessa" (modern-day Şanlıurfa in Turkey). Some scholars believe that the name could have been derived from this ancient city, which was an important center of early Christianity and a hub of trade and cultural exchange.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orfa can be found in the 6th century AD, when a Syriac bishop named Orfa lived and served in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and Syria). This historical figure is mentioned in various ecclesiastical records and chronicles.
In the Islamic tradition, there is a reference to a companion of the Prophet Muhammad named Orfa ibn Abi Orfa. He is believed to have lived in the 7th century AD and participated in several important battles during the early days of Islam.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Orfa:
1. Orfa ibn al-Hajjaj (died c. 735 AD), an Arab general and governor of Iraq during the Umayyad Caliphate.
2. Orfa al-Andalusi (10th century AD), an Arab poet and scholar from Al-Andalus (modern-day Spain and Portugal).
3. Orfa Bey (14th century AD), a Turkish ruler and military commander who governed parts of Anatolia during the decline of the Seljuk Empire.
4. Orfa Pasha (16th century AD), an Ottoman statesman and governor of various provinces in the Ottoman Empire.
5. Orfa Efendi (17th century AD), a renowned Ottoman calligrapher and artist known for his intricate calligraphic works.
While the name Orfa is relatively uncommon today, its historical roots and connections to various cultures and religions across the Middle East and Mediterranean regions make it a fascinating and intriguing name with a rich heritage.
People
Orfa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orfa 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
Orfa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orfa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orfa 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Orfa a common name?
We classify Orfa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orfa most popular?
The single biggest year for Orfa was 1949, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orfa is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orfa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 712 people with the name Orfa, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,985 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 Orfa 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 Orfa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orfa appears almost entirely female. Of the 711 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Orfa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orfa is Hispanic at 96.8%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Orfa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Orfa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (689 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 Orfa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orfa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orfa 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 Orfa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orfa 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 Orfa 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 Orfa?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.