Orvill
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "town of gold".
Name Census estimates that about 16 living Americans carry the first name Orvill. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orvill today is around 89 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orvill births was 1922 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orvill. 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 Orvill is about 89 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orvills were born before 1947.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orvill. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
16
~ 1 in 21,422,146 Americans
Peak year
1922
15 babies that year
Average age
89
years old
1951 SSA rank
#4,108
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Orvill: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orvill from the 1910s through to the 1950s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 99 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
Orvill 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 Orvill 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 Orvill
The name Orvill is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "or" meaning "shore" and "vill" meaning "settlement" or "town." It is believed to have originated in the late Anglo-Saxon period, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD.
In its earliest form, the name was likely spelled as "Orvill" or similar variations such as "Orvile" or "Orville." It was initially used as a descriptive name, referring to settlements or towns located near a shoreline or coastal region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orvill can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book mentions an individual named "Orvill de Lancastre," suggesting that the name was in use during the Norman period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Orvill remained relatively uncommon, but it did appear in various historical records and documents. One notable bearer of the name was Orvill de Vere, an English nobleman who lived in the 12th century and served as Lord High Chamberlain of England under King Henry II.
In the 16th century, the name gained some popularity due to the influence of the French renaissance writer and philosopher, Michel de Montaigne. In his famous essays, Montaigne mentioned a character named "Orvill," which may have contributed to the name's renewed interest during that time.
Another notable figure with the name Orvill was Orvill Wright, the younger brother of the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright. Born in 1871, Orvill played a significant role in the development of aviation alongside his brothers, contributing to the design and construction of their pioneering aircraft.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name Orvill enjoyed a brief period of popularity, particularly in the United States. This may have been influenced by the fame of the Wright brothers and their achievements in aviation.
Other notable individuals named Orvill include Orvill Penden, an American artist and illustrator born in 1879, and Orvill Moser, a Norwegian neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine in 2014.
While not as common as it once was, the name Orvill still holds historical significance and continues to be used, albeit infrequently, in various parts of the English-speaking world.
People
Orvill + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orvill 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
Orvill: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orvill?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orvill 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 21,422,146 US residents.
Is Orvill a common name?
We classify Orvill as "Very Rare". It ranks above 36.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orvill most popular?
The single biggest year for Orvill was 1922, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orvill is about 89 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Orvill in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orvill a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orvill 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 Orvill still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orvill 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 Orvill 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Orvill?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.