Orrie
A diminutive form of the English masculine name Orville meaning "from the golden town".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Orrie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Orrie today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orrie births was 1918 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orrie. 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 Orrie is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orries were born before 1970.
People living today
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
1918
34 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2007 SSA rank
#5,586
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Orrie
Orrie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 988 total registrations, 675 (68.3%) were male and 313 (31.7%) were female.
Orrie as a male name
- Ranked #11,973 in 2007
- 6 male births in 2007
- Peak: 1918 (23 births)
Orrie as a female name
- Ranked #5,586 in 1954
- 6 female births in 1954
- Peak: 1896 (13 births)
Popularity
Orrie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orrie from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 208 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
Orrie 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 Orrie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orries live
Origin
Meaning and history of Orrie
The name Orrie is believed to have originated from the Old English word "or," which means "to shine" or "to be bright." It's a diminutive form of the name Orrin, which itself is derived from the Old Norse name Ørrin, meaning "the honor-winner" or "the illustrious one."
Orrie was a popular name in England during the Middle Ages, particularly among the Anglo-Saxon nobility. It was often given to children born during the early hours of the morning when the sun was rising, symbolizing the start of a new day and the promise of a bright future.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orrie can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The book mentions an individual named Orrie de Beaumont, a Norman nobleman who held lands in Hampshire.
In the 13th century, an English priest and scholar named Orrie of Huntingdon wrote a chronicle titled "Historia Anglorum" (History of the English People), which provided a detailed account of the early history of England from the Roman conquest to the reign of King Henry II.
During the Renaissance period, Orrie became a popular name among the wealthy merchant class in Italy. One notable figure was Orrie Borghese (1509-1572), a wealthy banker and patron of the arts who commissioned works from renowned artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael.
In the 17th century, Orrie Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), the famous Dutch painter, was born in Leiden, Netherlands. He was known for his masterful use of light and shadow, which perhaps reflected the meaning of his first name.
Another notable figure with the name Orrie was Orrie Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher and historian who made significant contributions to the fields of epistemology, metaphysics, and political philosophy.
During the 19th century, Orrie Dickens (1812-1870), the renowned English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, England. His works, such as "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities," became literary classics and provided a vivid portrayal of Victorian society.
People
Orrie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orrie 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
Orrie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orrie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orrie 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Orrie a common name?
We classify Orrie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 988 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orrie most popular?
The single biggest year for Orrie was 1918, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orrie is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Orrie a male name?
Yes, 68.3% of people registered as Orrie 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.
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.