Orman
A Turkish name derived from the word "orman" meaning "forest".
Name Census estimates that about 234 living Americans carry the first name Orman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orman today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orman births was 1923 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orman. 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
- • The typical person named Orman is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ormans were born before 1960.
People living today
234
~ 1 in 1,464,762 Americans
Peak year
1923
38 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1984 SSA rank
#5,417
Tracked since 1908
Census
Orman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 342 people with the first name Orman, which placed it at #26,967 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
#26,967
National first-name rank
People counted
342
342 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orman is White at 74.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Orman 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 Orman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.0% · 253
- Black or African American14.0% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 17
- Two or more races3.8% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 4
Popularity
Orman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orman from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 258 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
Orman 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 Orman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ormans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Orman
The name Orman has its origins in the Turkish language, and it is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century. It is derived from the Turkish word "orman," which means "forest" or "woodland." The name likely originated among the Turkic tribes that inhabited the vast steppes and forests of Central Asia.
In the early Islamic era, the name Orman appeared in various historical texts and documents written in Arabic and Persian. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the writings of the renowned Persian poet and scholar, Saadi Shirazi (1210-1292), who mentioned an individual named Orman in one of his works.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Orman. In the 15th century, Orman Bey was a prominent military commander who served under the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (1432-1481), playing a crucial role in the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Another significant bearer of the name was Orman Pasha (1825-1890), a high-ranking Ottoman statesman and military leader who served as the Grand Vizier (prime minister) of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century.
In the realm of literature, Orman Dervish (1467-1550) was a renowned Ottoman poet and mystic who authored several works that have become classics of Turkish literature. His poetic compositions, infused with Sufi themes and spiritual insights, continue to be studied and celebrated by scholars and lovers of literature alike.
Moving into the 20th century, Orman Nuri Bilge (1906-1971) was a prominent Turkish diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from 1954 to 1957. His diplomatic efforts and contributions to international relations during the Cold War era were widely recognized and praised.
Another notable figure was Orman Kemal Meriç (1916-1987), a Turkish novelist, essayist, and philosopher whose works explored the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures. His influential book "Umrandan Uygarlığa" (From Civilization to Culture) earned him critical acclaim and a place among the most prominent thinkers of modern Turkish literature.
While the name Orman has its roots in the Turkish language and culture, it has also found its way into other regions and communities, reflecting the rich tapestry of cultural exchange and migration patterns throughout history.
People
Orman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orman 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
Orman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orman 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 1,464,762 US residents.
Is Orman a common name?
We classify Orman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 886 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orman most popular?
The single biggest year for Orman was 1923, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orman is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 342 people with the name Orman, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,967 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 Orman 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 Orman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orman leans strongly male. 334 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Orman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orman is White at 74.0%. The next largest groups are Black (14.0%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Orman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.0% (253 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 Orman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orman 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 Orman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orman 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 Orman 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 Orman?
You can see how many people share the name Orman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.