Orr
A masculine name of Scottish origin referring to an inlet of water.
Name Census estimates that about 26 living Americans carry the first name Orr. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 90.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Orr today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orr births was 1998 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orr. 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 Orr. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
26
~ 1 in 13,182,859 Americans
Peak year
1998
7 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1998 SSA rank
#8,210
Tracked since 1887
Census
Orr in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 161 people with the first name Orr, which placed it at #43,643 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
#43,643
National first-name rank
People counted
161
161 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orr
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orr is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Orr 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 Orr at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 140
- Black or African American7.5% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Orr
Orr leans heavily male at 90.0% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Orr as a male name
- Ranked #8,210 in 1998
- 7 male births in 1998
- Peak: 1998 (7 births)
Orr as a female name
- Ranked #19,304 in 2006
- 5 female births in 2006
- Peak: 2006 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Orr on both sides of the split. Of the 158 people counted with this name, 121 were male (76.6%) and 37 were female (23.4%).
Popularity
Orr: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orr from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 18 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orr 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 Orr during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orr
The name Orr has its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, derived from the word "orradh," which means "pale" or "light-colored." It is believed to have emerged as a descriptive nickname for someone with fair or light-colored hair or complexion.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Orr can be traced back to the medieval period in Scotland, where it was primarily used by families and individuals from the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The name has been documented in various historical records, such as parish registers and clan histories, as early as the 13th century.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Orr was Robert Orr, a Scottish clergyman and theologian who lived from 1693 to 1766. He was a prominent figure in the Church of Scotland and served as the minister of the Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh.
Another individual of historical significance was John Orr, a Scottish revolutionary and political activist who lived from 1766 to 1854. He was a leading figure in the Scottish Radical Movement and fought for democratic reforms and universal suffrage.
In the realm of literature, Robert Orr was a Scottish poet and writer who lived from 1828 to 1909. He is best known for his works celebrating Scottish culture, including "The Lays of Strathnaver" and "The Lays of the Deer Forest."
Sir John Boyd Orr, born in 1880 and died in 1971, was a Scottish biologist and politician who made significant contributions to the field of nutrition. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949 for his efforts in combating world hunger and promoting peace through improved food production and distribution.
Finally, John Orr, born in 1919 and died in 2017, was a Scottish footballer who played as a striker for various clubs, including Rangers and Falkirk. He was a prolific goalscorer and is considered one of the greatest players in Scottish football history.
People
Orr + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orr 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
Orr: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orr?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orr 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 13,182,859 US residents.
Is Orr a common name?
We classify Orr as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orr most popular?
The single biggest year for Orr was 1998, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orr is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orr in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 161 people with the name Orr, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,643 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 Orr 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 Orr?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Orr on both sides of the split. Of the 158 people counted with this name, 121 were male (76.6%) and 37 were female (23.4%). 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 Orr?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orr is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Orr most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orr in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (140 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 Orr in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orr a male name?
Yes, 90.0% of people registered as Orr 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 Orr still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orr 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 Orr 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 Orr as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Orr, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.