Osten
A masculine German name ultimately derived from the word meaning "east".
Name Census estimates that about 185 living Americans carry the first name Osten. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osten today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osten births was 2013 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osten. 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 Osten with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
185
~ 1 in 1,852,726 Americans
Peak year
2013
15 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,607
Tracked since 1992
Census
Osten in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 215 people with the first name Osten, which placed it at #36,733 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
#36,733
National first-name rank
People counted
215
215 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osten
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osten is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Osten 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 Osten at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.7% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 30
- Black or African American13.0% · 28
- Two or more races7.9% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 5
Popularity
Osten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osten 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 72 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Osten remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Osten 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 Osten 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 Osten
The name Osten is of Old Norse origin, derived from the Old Norse word "austr," meaning "east." It is believed to have been used as a surname or descriptive name referring to someone who lived in the eastern part of a region or someone who had come from the east.
In the Viking Age, from the 8th to the 11th century, Scandinavian explorers and settlers ventured eastward, establishing trade routes and settlements across Europe and even into Asia. It is possible that the name Osten was given to individuals associated with these eastern ventures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Osten dates back to the 11th century in Denmark. A Viking chieftain named Osten Hvidesøn is mentioned in the Danish chronicles from that time period. He was a prominent figure in the Danish civil wars of the late 11th century.
In the 13th century, an Icelandic historian and scholar named Ósten Ósteinsson lived and worked in Norway. He is known for his contributions to the Icelandic Sagas, particularly his work on the Flateyjarbók manuscript.
During the 16th century, a Swedish clergyman and scholar named Osten Petri played a significant role in the Swedish Reformation. He translated the New Testament into Swedish and was a prominent figure in the establishment of the Lutheran Church in Sweden.
In the 17th century, a German mathematician and astronomer named Osten Enden made contributions to the field of celestial mechanics and the study of comets.
Another notable figure with the name Osten was a Norwegian politician and writer named Osten Kristian Risten, who lived from 1838 to 1917. He served as a member of the Norwegian Parliament and was a vocal advocate for Norwegian independence from Sweden.
While the name Osten has its roots in Old Norse and Scandinavian history, it has been used across various cultures and regions over the centuries. The name's association with the east and its connection to exploration and venturing into new territories have contributed to its enduring legacy.
People
Osten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osten 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
Osten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osten 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 1,852,726 US residents.
Is Osten a common name?
We classify Osten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 187 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osten most popular?
The single biggest year for Osten was 2013, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osten is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osten in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 215 people with the name Osten, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,733 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 Osten 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 Osten?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Osten leans strongly male. 214 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Osten?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osten is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Black (13.0%). 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 Osten most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Osten in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (124 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 Osten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osten a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osten 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 Osten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osten 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 Osten 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 share the name Osten?
Want to know how many people share the name Osten? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.