Ossie
Diminutive form of the masculine name Oswald meaning "divine power."
Name Census estimates that about 1,065 living Americans carry the first name Ossie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Ossie today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ossie births was 1919 (138 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ossie. 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
- • Ossie was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
- • Ossie sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Ossie is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ossies were born before 1966.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 321,835 Americans
Peak year
1919
138 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2014 SSA rank
#9,991
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Ossie
Ossie is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,594 total registrations, 1,677 (36.5%) were male and 2,917 (63.5%) were female.
Ossie as a male name
- Ranked #13,509 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 1919 (42 births)
Ossie as a female name
- Ranked #9,991 in 1980
- 6 female births in 1980
- Peak: 1919 (96 births)
Popularity
Ossie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ossie from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,012 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
Ossie 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 Ossie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ossies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Ossie, while Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 133 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ossie
The name Ossie is a diminutive form of the given name Oswald, which is derived from the Old English words "os" meaning "god" and "weald" meaning "power" or "ruler." The name originated in Anglo-Saxon England during the 7th to 11th centuries.
Oswald was a popular name among the early English kings and nobility. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Saint Oswald, the King of Northumbria from 634 to 642 AD. He was venerated as a martyr after being killed in battle against the pagan king Penda of Mercia.
Another early bearer of the name was Oswald of Worcester, an English Benedictine monk and Archbishop of York who lived from around 925 to 992 AD. He was known for his scholarly works and contributions to the Benedictine monastic reform movement.
In the 12th century, Oswald of Ripon was a renowned English hagiographer and biographer of St. Aidan of Lindisfarne. His work, "Life of St. Aidan," provided valuable insights into the early Christian missions in Northumbria.
During the 16th century, Oswald Croll was a German philosopher and alchemist who made significant contributions to the field of medicine. He was born in 1580 and is credited with introducing several chemical compounds into medical practice.
In more recent history, Oswald Mosley, born in 1896, was a British politician and founder of the British Union of Fascists. Despite his controversial political views, his name serves as an example of the continued use of the name Ossie in the 20th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ossie
People
Ossie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ossie 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
Ossie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ossie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,065 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ossie 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 321,835 US residents.
Is Ossie a common name?
We classify Ossie as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,594 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ossie most popular?
The single biggest year for Ossie was 1919, when 138 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ossie is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ossie a female name?
Yes, 63.5% of people registered as Ossie 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.
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.