Orpha
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "fawn" or "young deer".
Name Census estimates that about 571 living Americans carry the first name Orpha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Orpha today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orpha births was 1917 (204 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orpha. 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 Orpha is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orphas were born before 1963.
People living today
571
~ 1 in 600,270 Americans
Peak year
1917
204 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,796
Tracked since 1880
Census
Orpha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,059 people with the first name Orpha, which placed it at #11,928 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
#11,928
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,059 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orpha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orpha is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Orpha 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 Orpha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.8% · 792
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 139
- Black or African American6.6% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 30
- Two or more races1.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 11
Popularity
Orpha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orpha from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,404 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orpha 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 Orpha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orphas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Orpha, while Washington, South Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 86 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orpha
The given name Orpha is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, with its roots traced back to ancient biblical times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "orpah," which means "fawn" or "young deer," symbolizing grace, swiftness, and agility.
One of the earliest known references to this name is found in the Book of Ruth from the Hebrew Bible, where Orpha is mentioned as the daughter-in-law of Naomi. In this biblical account, Orpha and her sister-in-law Ruth were both widowed, and while Ruth chose to accompany Naomi to Bethlehem, Orpha decided to remain in her homeland of Moab.
Throughout history, the name Orpha has been used across various cultures and regions, although it has remained relatively uncommon compared to other biblical names. One notable individual was Orpha Whitehead (1878-1948), an American educator and activist who played a crucial role in establishing the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and advocating for children's rights.
Another significant figure was Orpha Shewmake (1891-1990), a pioneering American lawyer and one of the first women to practice law in Georgia. She played a pivotal role in advocating for women's rights and empowerment in the legal profession during the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Orpha Byers (1893-1976) was an American novelist and short story writer known for her works that explored rural life and the experiences of ordinary people in the Midwest. Her novel "The Graven Image" was widely acclaimed and received critical praise.
The name Orpha also found its way into the world of music with Orpha Winburne (1875-1955), an American composer and pianist who gained recognition for her contributions to the development of ragtime and early jazz music in the early 20th century.
Lastly, one cannot overlook Orpha Doll (1919-2003), an American artist and sculptor whose works were celebrated for their unique blend of abstract and figurative styles, showcasing her innovative approach to modern art in the latter half of the 20th century.
People
Orpha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orpha 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
Orpha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orpha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 571 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orpha 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 600,270 US residents.
Is Orpha a common name?
We classify Orpha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,969 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orpha most popular?
The single biggest year for Orpha was 1917, when 204 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orpha is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orpha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,059 people with the name Orpha, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,928 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 Orpha 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 Orpha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orpha appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,063 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Orpha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orpha is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Black (6.6%). 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 Orpha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orpha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (792 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 Orpha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orpha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orpha 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 Orpha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orpha 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 Orpha 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 Orpha as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.