Oshane
A masculine name of Caribbean origin meaning "brave warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 60 living Americans carry the first name Oshane. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oshane today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oshane births was 2009 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oshane. 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 Oshane with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Oshane. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
60
~ 1 in 5,712,572 Americans
Peak year
2009
8 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,457
Tracked since 1996
Census
Oshane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 467 people with the first name Oshane, which placed it at #21,646 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
#21,646
National first-name rank
People counted
467
467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oshane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oshane is Black at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and White (2.1%). 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 Oshane 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 Oshane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.1% · 444
- Two or more races2.4% · 11
- White2.1% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Oshane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oshane from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 20 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Oshane remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oshane 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 Oshane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oshanes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Oshane
The name Oshane originates from the Jamaican Patois language, a dialect of English that developed in Jamaica with influences from various West African languages brought by enslaved people. The name likely has its roots in the Akan languages spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast, particularly the Twi language.
In Twi, the word "ɔshane" means "one who is welcomed or celebrated." This suggests that the name Oshane may have been given to children born during times of celebration or to mark a joyous occasion. The name's meaning also carries connotations of hospitality and embracing one's community.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Oshane date back to the late 19th century in Jamaica, when it began to appear in birth records and historical documents. During this period, the Jamaican Patois language was becoming more widely recognized and used, contributing to the emergence of unique names with roots in African languages and Jamaican culture.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Oshane was Oshane Lewis, a Jamaican sprinter born in 1993. He competed in various international track and field events, including the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he represented Jamaica in the 4x100m relay.
Another prominent figure named Oshane was Oshane Thomas, a Jamaican cricketer born in 1997. He made his international debut for the West Indies cricket team in 2019 and has since played in various formats, including Test matches and One Day Internationals.
In the field of music, Oshane Benjamin, a Jamaican dancehall artist born in 1993, has gained recognition for his unique style and collaborations with other popular Jamaican artists. His music often incorporates elements of Jamaican Patois and reflects the cultural influences of his homeland.
Oshane Plunkett, a Jamaican-American basketball player born in 1998, has also achieved success in his sport. He played college basketball for the University of Utah and was later drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 2020 NBA draft.
Another notable individual with the name Oshane is Oshane Bartley, a Jamaican-born American singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the early 2000s. He was part of the R&B group Phi Life Cypher and has collaborated with various artists in the music industry.
People
Oshane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oshane 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
Oshane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oshane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 60 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oshane 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 5,712,572 US residents.
Is Oshane a common name?
We classify Oshane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 61 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oshane most popular?
The single biggest year for Oshane was 2009, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oshane is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oshane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 467 people with the name Oshane, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,646 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 Oshane 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 Oshane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oshane leans strongly male. 455 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 9 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Oshane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oshane is Black at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.4%) and White (2.1%). 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 Oshane most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Oshane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.1% (444 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 Oshane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oshane a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oshane 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 Oshane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oshane 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 Oshane 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 are called Oshane?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.