Ouida
An Old English feminine name possibly derived from an Old English word meaning "riches".
Name Census estimates that about 1,076 living Americans carry the first name Ouida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ouida today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ouida births was 1924 (151 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ouida. 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
- • The typical person named Ouida is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ouidas were born before 1963.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 318,545 Americans
Peak year
1924
151 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1995 SSA rank
#12,919
Tracked since 1887
Popularity
Ouida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ouida from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,347 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
Ouida 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 Ouida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ouidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the most babies named Ouida, while North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 294 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ouida
The name Ouida is an English feminine given name that originated in the 19th century. It was coined by the English novelist Maria Louisa Ramé, who used it as her pen name. Ramé was born in 1839 in Bury St. Edmunds, England, and she adopted the pseudonym Ouida, which is a variation of her given name's Russian equivalent, Luidia.
Ouida is not a traditional name derived from a specific language or culture. It was created by Ramé herself, who was known for her unconventional and flamboyant personality. As a writer, Ouida gained popularity for her novels that explored themes of passion, romance, and social criticism, including "Under Two Flags" and "Moths."
While Ouida was not a historical or traditional name before its creation by Ramé, it gained recognition and usage due to the fame and popularity of the author. Some notable individuals who bore the name Ouida include Ouida Bergère (1886-1974), an American screenwriter and actress, and Ouida McDaniel (1913-1998), an American actress and singer.
Other individuals named Ouida include Ouida Whitaker (1879-1967), an American educator and activist; Ouida Wyatt (1906-1984), an American artist; and Ouida Pate (1918-2010), an American writer and historian.
It is worth noting that while the name Ouida gained some popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in English-speaking countries, it has remained a relatively uncommon and unique name throughout history.
People
Ouida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ouida 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
Ouida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ouida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,076 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ouida 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 318,545 US residents.
Is Ouida a common name?
We classify Ouida as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,886 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ouida most popular?
The single biggest year for Ouida was 1924, when 151 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ouida is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ouida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ouida 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.