Obbie
A masculine name, possibly a diminutive form of other names.
Name Census estimates that about 120 living Americans carry the first name Obbie. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Obbie today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Obbie births was 1920 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Obbie. 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 Obbie is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Obbies were born before 1966.
People living today
120
~ 1 in 2,856,286 Americans
Peak year
1920
10 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2004 SSA rank
#9,665
Tracked since 1912
Census
Obbie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Obbie, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Obbie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Obbie is Black at 60.4%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Obbie 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 Obbie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.4% · 99
- White26.2% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 13
- Two or more races3.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3
Popularity
Obbie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Obbie from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 65 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Obbie 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 Obbie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Obbies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Obbie
The name Obbie is believed to have its origins in the Gaelic language, with roots tracing back to ancient Celtic cultures that once inhabited parts of modern-day Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The name is a diminutive form of the name Obadiah, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Ovadyah, meaning "servant of God" or "worshiper of God."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Obbie can be found in the medieval Scottish ballad "Sir Patrick Spens," which dates back to the 16th century. In this ballad, a character named Obbie is mentioned as one of the sailors aboard the ill-fated ship, though little else is known about this particular individual.
During the 17th century, an Obbie Johnstone was recorded as a member of the renowned Border Reivers, a group of families in the Anglo-Scottish border region known for their involvement in cattle raids and feuds. Obbie Johnstone's exploits and allegiances during this tumultuous period remain shrouded in mystery, but his name has been preserved in historical accounts of the era.
In the late 18th century, an Obbie Elliot was a prominent figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, a period of intellectual and scientific flourishing in Scotland. Elliot was a renowned philosopher and writer, and his works on ethics and moral philosophy were widely read and discussed during his lifetime.
Moving into the 19th century, an Obbie Macfarlane gained notoriety as a skilled Highland piper and composer. Born in 1808 in Argyllshire, Scotland, Macfarlane composed numerous tunes that became popular among pipers and played a significant role in preserving and promoting the rich tradition of Scottish bagpipe music.
Finally, in the early 20th century, an Obbie Galbraith emerged as a celebrated poet and novelist in the Scottish literary scene. Born in 1892 in Glasgow, Galbraith's works often explored themes of working-class life, social injustice, and the struggles of the urban poor. His novel "The Wynds of Glasgow" is considered a classic of Scottish literature and offers a poignant portrayal of life in the slums of Glasgow during the early 1900s.
People
Obbie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Obbie 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
Obbie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Obbie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 120 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Obbie 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 2,856,286 US residents.
Is Obbie a common name?
We classify Obbie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 296 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Obbie most popular?
The single biggest year for Obbie was 1920, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Obbie is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Obbie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Obbie, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Obbie 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 Obbie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Obbie leans strongly male. 133 people counted with this name were male (81.6%), compared with 30 female bearers (18.4%). 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 Obbie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Obbie is Black at 60.4%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Hispanic (7.9%). 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 Obbie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Obbie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.4% (99 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 Obbie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Obbie a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Obbie 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 Obbie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Obbie 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 Obbie 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 Americans are named Obbie?
See how many people share the name Obbie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.