Osie
A diminutive of Oswald, derived from Old English meaning "divine power".
Name Census estimates that about 312 living Americans carry the first name Osie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 64.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Osie today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osie births was 1927 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osie. 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
- • Osie was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Osie sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Osie is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Osies were born before 1957.
People living today
312
~ 1 in 1,098,572 Americans
Peak year
1927
66 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1982 SSA rank
#7,081
Tracked since 1880
Census
Osie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 430 people with the first name Osie, which placed it at #22,949 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
#22,949
National first-name rank
People counted
430
430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osie is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Osie 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 Osie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.4% · 294
- White23.3% · 100
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 13
- Two or more races2.8% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Osie
Osie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,102 total registrations, 748 (35.6%) were male and 1,354 (64.4%) were female.
Osie as a male name
- Ranked #7,081 in 1982
- 5 male births in 1982
- Peak: 1915 (22 births)
Osie as a female name
- Ranked #7,266 in 1961
- 5 female births in 1961
- Peak: 1927 (45 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osie on both sides of the split. Of the 432 people counted with this name, 223 were male (51.6%) and 209 were female (48.4%).
Popularity
Osie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osie from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 458 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
Osie 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 Osie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Osies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Osie, while Texas, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osie
The name Osie is of English origin, derived from the Old English name Oswald, which means "divine power" or "ruler of the gods." The name was popular during the Anglo-Saxon period, particularly among the ruling classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Osie can be found in the Domesday Book, a medieval census commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions an individual named Osie who held land in Lincolnshire.
In the 12th century, Osie appears as a variant spelling of the name Oswald in the chronicles of medieval English historian William of Malmesbury. He mentions an Osie who was a Saxon nobleman and landowner in Worcestershire.
During the Middle Ages, the name Osie was associated with several notable figures. One of the most prominent was Osie the Venerable, a Benedictine monk and scholar who lived from 1092 to 1158. He is renowned for his contributions to the intellectual and religious life of medieval England.
In the 16th century, Osie Cavendish (1555-1628) was a prominent English noblewoman and courtier during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. She served as a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and was known for her wit and intelligence.
Another notable figure was Osie Wilkinson (1712-1799), an English clockmaker and inventor who contributed to the development of precision timekeeping devices in the 18th century.
Osie Sedgwick (1808-1888) was an American author and educator who wrote several influential works on education and pedagogy during the 19th century.
In the 20th century, Osie Brown (1915-2003) was an American jazz musician and bandleader who played a significant role in the development of swing music in the 1930s and 1940s.
While the name Osie has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, its rich history and associations with notable figures from various periods make it a name with a fascinating background rooted in the ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition.
People
Osie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osie 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
Osie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 312 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osie 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 1,098,572 US residents.
Is Osie a common name?
We classify Osie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,102 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osie most popular?
The single biggest year for Osie was 1927, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osie is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 430 people with the name Osie, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,949 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 Osie 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 Osie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osie on both sides of the split. Of the 432 people counted with this name, 223 were male (51.6%) and 209 were female (48.4%). 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 Osie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osie is Black at 68.4%. The next largest groups are White (23.3%) and Hispanic (3.0%). 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 Osie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Osie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.4% (294 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 Osie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osie a female name?
Yes, 64.4% of people registered as Osie in the SSA data are female. 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 Osie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osie 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 Osie 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 named Osie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.