Oscar
A masculine given name of disputed origin, possibly of Irish, Norse or Hispanic derivation.
Name Census estimates that about 143,368 living Americans carry the first name Oscar. It sits at #217 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Oscar today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oscar births was 2006 (3,607 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oscar. 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 Oscar with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Oscar is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,070 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
143K
~ 1 in 2,391 Americans
Peak year
2006
3,607 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#217
Tracked since 1880
Census
Oscar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 212,941 people with the first name Oscar, which placed it at #263 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
#263
National first-name rank
People counted
213K
212,941 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
70.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oscar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oscar is Hispanic at 83.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.6%) and Black (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 Oscar 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 Oscar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.2% · 177,078
- White9.6% · 20,425
- Black or African American4.3% · 9,230
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 4,105
- Two or more races0.7% · 1,549
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 554
Gender
Gender distribution for Oscar
Out of the 212,533 babies given the name Oscar since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Oscar as a male name
- Ranked #217 in 2024
- 1,656 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (3,601 births)
Oscar as a female name
- Ranked #18,458 in 2015
- 5 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1994 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oscar appears almost entirely male. Of the 212,946 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Oscar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oscar from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 33,635 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oscar 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 Oscar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 5,982 | 10 | 5,992 |
| 1890s | 5,612 | 17 | 5,629 |
| 1900s | 4,517 | 18 | 4,535 |
| 1910s | 14,869 | 69 | 14,938 |
| 1920s | 17,740 | 124 | 17,864 |
| 1930s | 11,373 | 120 | 11,493 |
| 1940s | 10,189 | 75 | 10,264 |
| 1950s | 11,363 | 77 | 11,440 |
| 1960s | 9,910 | 45 | 9,955 |
| 1970s | 11,850 | 106 | 11,956 |
| 1980s | 15,660 | 125 | 15,785 |
| 1990s | 27,885 | 184 | 28,069 |
| 2000s | 33,545 | 90 | 33,635 |
| 2010s | 22,258 | 10 | 22,268 |
| 2020s | 8,710 | 0 | 8,710 |
Geography
Where Oscars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Oscar, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,769 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oscar
The name Oscar has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the Old Norse name Ásgeirr or Ásgarðr. The first part of the name, "ás," refers to the gods of Norse mythology, and the second part, "geirr" or "garðr," means "spear" or "enclosure," respectively. This suggests the name may have initially meant "spear of the gods" or "enclosure of the gods."
Oscar gained popularity across various Germanic languages, including Old English, Old Norse, and Old German, during the early medieval period. It was a common name among the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon populations of the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Oscar can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók, a medieval text that chronicles the settlement of Iceland. The text mentions an Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, who lived in the 9th century and is considered one of the earliest known individuals to bear the name.
In the 12th century, the name appeared in the Old English epic poem Beowulf, where a character named Oscferd is mentioned. This is one of the earliest known references to the name in English literature.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Oscar. One of the earliest was Oscar I of Sweden (1799-1859), who reigned as King of Sweden and Norway from 1844 until his death. Another famous Oscar was the Irish playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), known for his wit and works such as "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest."
In the field of science, Oscar Minkowski (1858-1931) was a German physician and pioneer in the study of diabetes, while Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) was a renowned Brazilian architect famous for his modernist designs.
Other notable figures include Oscar Romero (1917-1980), the Archbishop of San Salvador who was assassinated for his advocacy of human rights, and Oscar Schindler (1908-1974), the German industrialist who saved the lives of over a thousand Jewish refugees during the Holocaust.
The name Oscar has a rich history, spanning various cultures and time periods, and has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including royalty, artists, scientists, and humanitarians.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Oscar
People
Oscar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oscar 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
Oscar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oscar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143,368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oscar 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 2,391 US residents.
Is Oscar a common name?
We classify Oscar as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 212,533 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oscar most popular?
The single biggest year for Oscar was 2006, when 3,607 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oscar is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oscar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 212,941 people with the name Oscar, or 70.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #263 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 Oscar 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 Oscar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oscar appears almost entirely male. Of the 212,946 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Oscar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oscar is Hispanic at 83.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.6%) and Black (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 Oscar most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Oscar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.2% (177,078 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 Oscar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oscar a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Oscar 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 Oscar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oscar 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 Oscar 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 share the name Oscar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.