Ozymandias
A Greek name meaning "to maintain authority" or "ruler of strength".
Name Census estimates that about 50 living Americans carry the first name Ozymandias. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ozymandias today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ozymandias births was 2023 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ozymandias. 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 Ozymandias. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
50
~ 1 in 6,855,087 Americans
Peak year
2023
10 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,926
Tracked since 2018
Popularity
Ozymandias: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ozymandias from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 34 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
Ozymandias 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 Ozymandias 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 Ozymandias
The given name Ozymandias has its origins in the ancient Greek language. It is derived from the Greek words "ozos" meaning "branch" and "manthano" meaning "to learn". The name roughly translates to "he who learns from branches" or "student of nature".
Ozymandias was the Greek name given to the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 BCE to 1213 BCE during the 19th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. The name appears in the famous poem "Ozymandias" by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1818. The poem describes a colossal ruined statue in the desert with an inscription boasting of the pharaoh's power and legacy, contrasting with the reality of his empire's eventual decline and ruin.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ozymandias dates back to the 3rd century BCE, when a Greek historian named Diodorus Siculus referred to Ramesses II by this name in his writings. The name gained popularity in the Western world after the publication of Shelley's poem in the 19th century.
Some notable historical figures named Ozymandias include:
1. Ozymandias I, a king of the ancient Greek city-state of Sidon in modern-day Lebanon, who ruled in the 4th century BCE.
2. Ozymandias of Pontus, a Greek astronomer and mathematician from the 2nd century BCE, known for his work on celestial observations and calendars.
3. Ozymandias the Elder, a Roman philosopher and scholar from the 1st century CE, who wrote on topics related to ethics and logic.
4. Ozymandias of Alexandria, a Christian theologian and writer from the 4th century CE, known for his commentaries on biblical texts.
5. Ozymandias the Scribe, a medieval copyist and calligrapher from the 9th century CE, renowned for his beautiful handwritten manuscripts.
People
Ozymandias + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ozymandias 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
Ozymandias: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ozymandias?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 50 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ozymandias 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 6,855,087 US residents.
Is Ozymandias a common name?
We classify Ozymandias as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ozymandias most popular?
The single biggest year for Ozymandias was 2023, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ozymandias is about 5 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 Ozymandias in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ozymandias a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ozymandias 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 Ozymandias still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ozymandias 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 Ozymandias 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 people share the name Ozymandias?
Want to know how many people have the name Ozymandias? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.