Osteen
A masculine name derived from a French surname meaning "eastern".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Osteen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osteen today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osteen births was 2017 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osteen. 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 Osteen. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2017
6 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,826
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Osteen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osteen from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6 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
Osteen 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 Osteen 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 Osteen
The name Osteen is believed to have originated from Old English and Old German language roots. It is thought to be derived from the Germanic name "Ostin" or "Ostyn," which itself may come from the Old English word "ost," meaning "east."
In the Anglo-Saxon era, around the 5th to 11th centuries, names with the "ost" element were often used to indicate someone from the east or eastern regions. The name Osteen may have initially referred to someone who hailed from an eastern area or had ancestors from the east.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Osteen date back to the late Middle Ages in England and parts of continental Europe. One of the earliest documented individuals with this name was Osteen de Wycombe, a landowner in Buckinghamshire, England, mentioned in records from the 13th century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Osteen. One of the most famous was Osteen Wyatt (1501-1550), an English nobleman and courtier who served as a diplomat under King Henry VIII. Another prominent Osteen was Osteen Bayard (1615-1678), a French military leader who fought in the Thirty Years' War and later became a Marshal of France.
In the 19th century, Osteen Whitfield (1810-1892) was a respected Baptist preacher and educator from Virginia, known for establishing several schools and colleges in the southern United States. A more recent figure was Osteen Pemberton (1918-2003), a British artist and sculptor whose works can be found in various public collections.
One of the most well-known individuals with the name Osteen in modern times was Joel Osteen (born 1963), an American pastor and author who became the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and gained a large following through his televised sermons and best-selling books.
People
Osteen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osteen 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
Osteen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osteen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osteen 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Osteen a common name?
We classify Osteen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osteen most popular?
The single biggest year for Osteen was 2017, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osteen is about 13 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 Osteen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osteen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osteen 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 Osteen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osteen 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 Osteen 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 common is the name Osteen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.