Osborne
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "divine power".
Name Census estimates that about 696 living Americans carry the first name Osborne. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osborne today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osborne births was 1915 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osborne. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Osborne with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
696
~ 1 in 492,463 Americans
Peak year
1915
47 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,367
Tracked since 1880
Census
Osborne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 680 people with the first name Osborne, which placed it at #16,535 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
#16,535
National first-name rank
People counted
680
680 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osborne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osborne is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Osborne 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 Osborne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.1% · 327
- White42.4% · 288
- Two or more races4.3% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 6
Popularity
Osborne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osborne 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 314 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
Osborne 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 Osborne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Osbornes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Osborne, while Maryland, Georgia, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osborne
The name Osborne is of English origin and dates back to the Anglo-Saxon era. It is derived from the Old English words "os," meaning "ox," and "burne," meaning "stream" or "brook." This combination suggests that the name may have originated as a topographic name, referring to a location where oxen were watered.
Records indicate that the name Osborne was first used as a surname in the 11th century, during the reign of William the Conqueror. It is believed that the name was initially borne by families who lived near a stream or brook where oxen were tended.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Osborne appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land and property commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name is mentioned in connection with various landholdings in several counties, including Dorset and Somerset.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Osborne was primarily associated with noble families and landowners in England. Notable individuals bearing the name during this period include Sir Peter Osborne, who served as Lord Chancellor of England in the 14th century, and Sir John Osborne, a prominent military commander during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.
During the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, the name Osborne continued to be associated with influential families and individuals. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds (1632-1712), who served as Lord High Treasurer and Lord President of the Council under King Charles II and King William III.
In the 18th century, the name Osborne gained literary significance with the poet and playwright John Osborne (1723-1789), who is best known for his satirical works and his collaboration with Samuel Johnson on the play "The Jealous Wife."
Another notable figure with the name Osborne was Ralph Osborne (1808-1890), a British diplomat and author who served as the first British Consul-General in Japan and wrote extensively about his experiences in the country.
In the 19th century, the name Osborne was associated with the British royal family through Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, whose full name was Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Saxony, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple named one of their residences Osborne House, located on the Isle of Wight, in honor of Prince Albert's family name.
Other notable individuals with the name Osborne include the American architect Thomas Osborne (1859-1926), who designed several prominent buildings in New York City, and the British actor Sir Laurence Osborne (1889-1951), who starred in numerous films and stage productions during the early 20th century.
People
Osborne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osborne 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
Osborne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osborne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 696 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osborne 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 492,463 US residents.
Is Osborne a common name?
We classify Osborne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osborne most popular?
The single biggest year for Osborne was 1915, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osborne is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osborne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 680 people with the name Osborne, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,535 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 Osborne 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 Osborne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Osborne leans strongly male. 661 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 16 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Osborne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osborne is Black at 48.1%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Two or More Races (4.3%). 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 Osborne most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Osborne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.1% (327 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 Osborne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osborne a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osborne 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 Osborne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osborne 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 Osborne 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 common is the name Osborne?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.