Oshae
A unisex variant of the name Joshua of Hebrew origin meaning "God is savior".
Name Census estimates that about 238 living Americans carry the first name Oshae. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oshae today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oshae births was 1994 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oshae. 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 Oshae with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
238
~ 1 in 1,440,144 Americans
Peak year
1994
20 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,921
Tracked since 1991
Census
Oshae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 185 people with the first name Oshae, which placed it at #40,305 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
#40,305
National first-name rank
People counted
185
185 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oshae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oshae is Black at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.2%). 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 Oshae 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 Oshae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.9% · 159
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 6
- Two or more races3.2% · 6
- White1.1% · 2
Popularity
Oshae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oshae from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 104 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Oshae remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oshae 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 Oshae during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oshaes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Oshae
The name Oshae is a relatively modern name with uncertain origins. It does not appear to have a clear linguistic or cultural root, and there is little information available on its historical usage or meaning.
Some sources suggest that Oshae may be a variant spelling or combination of the names Osha and Shae. Osha is a Native American name derived from the Choctaw word "osi," meaning "to hunt." Shae is a Hebrew name meaning "gift." However, the merging of these two names into Oshae and its potential significance is not well documented.
There are no known references to the name Oshae in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. Its origin and popularity seem to be a relatively recent phenomenon, likely within the last few decades.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Oshae are somewhat obscure. One of the earliest known people with this name was Oshae Yancy, an American actress born in 1988, who appeared in several television shows and films in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Another notable figure with the name Oshae was Oshae Jones, an American basketball player born in 1995. She played college basketball at the University of Buffalo and was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA in 2019.
Oshae Champagne, born in 1992, is a Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur known for her clothing line and advocacy for sustainable fashion.
Oshae Semper, born in 1990, is an American singer and songwriter who has released several albums and singles in the R&B and pop genres.
Oshae Browning, born in 1985, is a British author and children's book illustrator, known for her book series featuring diverse characters and themes.
While the name Oshae has gained some popularity in recent years, its historical roots and deeper cultural significance remain relatively obscure. Its usage appears to be a modern phenomenon, with limited information available on its origins or early bearers of the name.
People
Oshae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oshae 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
Oshae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oshae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oshae 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 1,440,144 US residents.
Is Oshae a common name?
We classify Oshae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 242 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oshae most popular?
The single biggest year for Oshae was 1994, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oshae is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oshae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 185 people with the name Oshae, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,305 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 Oshae 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 Oshae?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oshae leans strongly male. 161 people counted with this name were male (87.0%), compared with 24 female bearers (13.0%). 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 Oshae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oshae is Black at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.2%). 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 Oshae most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Oshae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (159 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 Oshae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oshae a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oshae 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 Oshae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oshae 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 Oshae 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 Oshae?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.