Osirus
An ancient Egyptian masculine name meaning "the mighty one".
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Osirus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osirus today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osirus births was 2003 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osirus. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Osirus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
2003
7 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,671
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Osirus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osirus from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 25 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Osirus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Osirus 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 Osirus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osirus
The name Osirus originates from ancient Egyptian mythology and is a variant spelling of the name Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, the dead, and resurrection. This name is derived from the Egyptian words "Usir" or "Asir," which are thought to mean "powerful" or "mighty."
Osiris was one of the most important deities in ancient Egyptian religion and was associated with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. He was believed to be the first ruler of Egypt and the embodiment of the Nile River's life-giving waters. The name Osirus appears in numerous ancient Egyptian texts, including the Pyramid Texts, the oldest known religious writings from ancient Egypt, dating back to around 2400 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Osirus is found in the story of Osiris and Isis, which is part of the Osiris myth cycle. According to this myth, Osiris was a wise and benevolent ruler who was killed by his jealous brother, Set. Isis, the devoted wife of Osiris, eventually resurrected him, and he became the ruler of the underworld.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Osirus or its variants:
1. Osirus (c. 2400 BCE), an Egyptian pharaoh whose existence is debated among historians but who is sometimes associated with the mythological Osiris.
2. Osirus of Abydos (c. 2300 BCE), an Egyptian priest and one of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Osirus.
3. Osirus the Architect (c. 2200 BCE), an Egyptian architect who is credited with designing and constructing several important monuments in ancient Egypt.
4. Osirus of Thebes (c. 1500 BCE), an Egyptian scribe and historian who wrote extensively about the Osiris cult and its rituals.
5. Osirus the Younger (c. 300 BCE), a Greek scholar and philosopher who studied and wrote about ancient Egyptian religion, including the cult of Osiris.
While the name Osirus is not commonly used today, its legacy and the mythology surrounding the Egyptian god Osiris continue to fascinate and inspire people around the world.
People
Osirus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osirus 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
Osirus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osirus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osirus 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 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Osirus a common name?
We classify Osirus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 69 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osirus most popular?
The single biggest year for Osirus was 2003, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osirus is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Osirus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osirus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osirus 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 Osirus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osirus 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 Osirus 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Osirus?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Osirus at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.