Octave
From French, meaning "eighth" in the musical scale.
Name Census estimates that about 78 living Americans carry the first name Octave. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Octave today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Octave births was 1918 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Octave. 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 Octave with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Octave is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Octaves were born before 1962.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Octave. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
78
~ 1 in 4,394,286 Americans
Peak year
1918
18 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,904
Tracked since 1880
Census
Octave in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 250 people with the first name Octave, which placed it at #33,212 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
#33,212
National first-name rank
People counted
250
250 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Octave
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Octave is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (44.0%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Octave 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 Octave at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.8% · 112
- White44.0% · 110
- Two or more races4.8% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 6
Popularity
Octave: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Octave from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 97 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
Octave 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 Octave during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Octaves live
Origin
Meaning and history of Octave
The name Octave has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to the ancient Roman civilization. It is derived from the Latin word "octavus," which means "eighth." This connection suggests that the name may have been given to a child who was the eighth-born in a family.
During the Roman era, the name Octave was relatively uncommon, but it gained prominence with the rise of Octavian, later known as Augustus Caesar. Born Gaius Octavius in 63 BC, he was the first Roman emperor and ruled from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD. His name Octavius, meaning "the eighth child," was a nod to his family's lineage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Octave can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius, who mentioned Octavius Caesar in his work "The Twelve Caesars." This historical reference highlights the significance of the name in ancient Roman society.
Throughout the centuries, the name Octave has been borne by various notable individuals. One such person was Octave Feuillet (1821-1890), a French novelist and dramatist known for his works like "Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre" (The Novel of a Poor Young Man) and "Monsieur de Camors."
Another prominent figure was Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917), a French writer, journalist, and art critic celebrated for his satirical and naturalistic novels, including "Le Calvaire" (The Torture Garden) and "Le Jardin des supplices" (The Garden of Tortures).
In the realm of music, Octave Tassart (1878-1952) was a Belgian violinist and composer who made significant contributions to the development of modern violin techniques and composed works for various instruments.
The name Octave also found its way into the world of science with Octave Levenspiel (1926-2017), a renowned chemical engineer and author of the influential textbook "Chemical Reaction Engineering."
Lastly, Octave Uzanne (1851-1931) was a French bibliophile, writer, and publisher known for his contributions to the art of bookmaking and his advocacy for the preservation of rare and valuable books.
These diverse examples showcase the enduring presence of the name Octave throughout various fields and eras, highlighting its rich historical significance and continued resonance across cultures.
People
Octave + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Octave 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
Octave: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Octave?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 78 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Octave 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 4,394,286 US residents.
Is Octave a common name?
We classify Octave as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 449 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Octave most popular?
The single biggest year for Octave was 1918, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Octave is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Octave in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 250 people with the name Octave, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,212 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 Octave 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 Octave?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Octave leans strongly male. 243 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Octave?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Octave is Black at 44.8%. The next largest groups are White (44.0%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). 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 Octave most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Octave in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.8% (112 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 Octave in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Octave a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Octave 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 Octave still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Octave 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 Octave 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 common is the name Octave?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.