Osiris
An Egyptian name referring to the god of the afterlife, underworld, and resurrection.
Name Census estimates that about 4,202 living Americans carry the first name Osiris. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Osiris today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osiris births was 2023 (254 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osiris. 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 Osiris with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Osiris is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,569 Americans
Peak year
2023
254 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#976
Tracked since 1970
Census
Osiris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,074 people with the first name Osiris, which placed it at #4,533 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
#4,533
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,074 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osiris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osiris is Hispanic at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.6%) and White (9.6%). 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 Osiris 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 Osiris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino74.3% · 3,026
- Black or African American10.6% · 433
- White9.6% · 392
- Two or more races4.5% · 184
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Osiris
Osiris is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,259 total registrations, 3,391 (79.6%) were male and 868 (20.4%) were female.
Osiris as a male name
- Ranked #976 in 2024
- 230 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (244 births)
Osiris as a female name
- Ranked #6,317 in 2024
- 19 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osiris on both sides of the split. Of the 4,075 people counted with this name, 2,383 were male (58.5%) and 1,692 were female (41.5%).
Popularity
Osiris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osiris from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,359 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Osiris 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 Osiris during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Osiris' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Osiris, while Kentucky, Kansas, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osiris
The name Osiris originates from ancient Egyptian mythology and language. It is derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic word "Usiré", which means "powerful" or "mighty". The name Osiris belongs to one of the most important deities in ancient Egyptian religion, the god of the afterlife, the dead, and resurrection.
Osiris was the mythological lord of the underworld, the judge of the dead, and the ruler of the realm of the deceased. According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, he was the first son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Osiris was considered the brother of Isis, Nephthys, and Set, and was married to Isis.
The stories and myths surrounding Osiris are found in various ancient Egyptian texts and hieroglyphic inscriptions, such as the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, and the Book of the Dead. These texts describe the legends of Osiris' birth, life, death, and resurrection, as well as his role in the afterlife.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Osiris dates back to the 5th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, around 2494-2345 BCE. The name appears in the Pyramid Texts, which were inscribed on the walls of the pyramids of Saqqara, and in the Coffin Texts, which were written on the interior of coffins and tombs.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Osiris. One of the most famous was Osiris I, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the 5th Dynasty, around 2460-2453 BCE. Another was Osiris, the son of Ramses II, who lived during the 19th Dynasty, around 1279-1213 BCE.
In Greek mythology, the name Osiris was also used for the god Serapis, who was a syncretic deity that combined aspects of Osiris and the Greek god Apis. One of the most notable individuals with this name was Serapis of Tyre, a Greek philosopher and teacher who lived in the 3rd century CE.
Another historical figure named Osiris was a 4th-century Christian saint and martyr from Egypt. He was martyred during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century.
In the 17th century, there was an Ottoman Turkish poet and mystic named Osiris, who lived in the city of Bursa in modern-day Turkey. He was known for his devotional and mystical poetry, which often featured themes related to Sufism and Islamic spirituality.
People
Osiris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osiris 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
Osiris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osiris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osiris 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 81,569 US residents.
Is Osiris a common name?
We classify Osiris as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osiris most popular?
The single biggest year for Osiris was 2023, when 254 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osiris is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osiris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,074 people with the name Osiris, or 1.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,533 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 Osiris 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 Osiris?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osiris on both sides of the split. Of the 4,075 people counted with this name, 2,383 were male (58.5%) and 1,692 were female (41.5%). 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 Osiris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osiris is Hispanic at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.6%) and White (9.6%). 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 Osiris most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Osiris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (3,026 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 Osiris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osiris a male name?
Yes, 79.6% of people registered as Osiris 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 Osiris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osiris 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 Osiris 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 Osiris?
You can see how many people share the name Osiris on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.