Orland
A masculine name of uncertain origin, potentially meaning "noble land".
Name Census estimates that about 588 living Americans carry the first name Orland. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orland today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orland births was 1922 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orland. 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 Orland with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Orland is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orlands were born before 1971.
People living today
588
~ 1 in 582,916 Americans
Peak year
1922
90 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2023 SSA rank
#5,443
Tracked since 1885
Census
Orland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 758 people with the first name Orland, which placed it at #15,241 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
#15,241
National first-name rank
People counted
758
758 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orland is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.8%) and Black (11.7%). 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 Orland 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 Orland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 473
- Hispanic or Latino15.8% · 120
- Black or African American11.7% · 89
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 17
- Two or more races1.6% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Orland
Out of the 2,086 babies given the name Orland since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Orland as a male name
- Ranked #11,875 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1922 (90 births)
Orland as a female name
- Ranked #5,443 in 1926
- 5 female births in 1926
- Peak: 1926 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orland appears almost entirely male. Of the 747 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Orland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orland 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 610 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orland 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 Orland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orlands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois recorded the most babies named Orland, while Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orland
The name Orland is derived from the Old French word "Orland" or "Orlant," which itself has its roots in the Frankish Germanic name "Hrodland." This name is composed of the elements "hrod" meaning "fame" or "renown" and "land" meaning "land" or "territory." The name Orland likely originated in the 8th or 9th century among the Frankish tribes of what is now modern-day France and Germany.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Orland can be found in the 11th-century French epic poem "The Song of Roland," which tells the story of a legendary Frankish military leader named Roland who served under Charlemagne. This literary work helped popularize the name throughout medieval Europe.
In the 12th century, an Italian knight and crusader named Orlandino de' Monaldi was recorded as one of the earliest real-life individuals to bear the name. He fought in the Third Crusade and was known for his valor in battle.
During the Renaissance period, the name Orland gained further prominence through the works of the Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto. His epic poem "Orlando Furioso," published in 1516, featured a character named Orlando who was based on the legendary figure from "The Song of Roland."
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Orland was Orland de Lassus, a renowned Flemish Renaissance composer who lived from 1532 to 1594. He was widely acclaimed for his contributions to the development of polyphonic vocal music.
In the 19th century, the name Orland was borne by Orland Smith, an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Representative from Indiana from 1847 to 1849.
Another notable individual with the name Orland was Orland E. White, an American botanist and plant collector who lived from 1847 to 1927. He made significant contributions to the study of the flora of the western United States.
People
Orland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orland 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
Orland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 588 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orland 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 582,916 US residents.
Is Orland a common name?
We classify Orland as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,086 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orland most popular?
The single biggest year for Orland was 1922, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orland is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 758 people with the name Orland, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,241 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 Orland 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 Orland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orland appears almost entirely male. Of the 747 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Orland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orland is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.8%) and Black (11.7%). 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 Orland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (473 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 Orland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orland a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Orland 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 Orland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orland 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 Orland 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 Orland?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.