Oneita
A unique name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 123 living Americans carry the first name Oneita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Oneita today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oneita births was 1921 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oneita. 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 Oneita is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Oneitas were born before 1957.
People living today
123
~ 1 in 2,786,621 Americans
Peak year
1921
33 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1964 SSA rank
#5,853
Tracked since 1895
Census
Oneita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 240 people with the first name Oneita, which placed it at #34,133 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
#34,133
National first-name rank
People counted
240
240 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oneita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oneita is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.3%). 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 Oneita 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 Oneita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.9% · 151
- Black or African American30.0% · 72
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 4
- Two or more races1.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
Popularity
Oneita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oneita from the 1890s through to the 1960s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 263 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
Oneita 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 Oneita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oneitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma recorded the most babies named Oneita, while Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oneita
The name Oneita is believed to have originated from the Native American Oneida tribe, a group indigenous to the northeastern region of what is now the United States. The Oneida people were part of the Iroquois Confederacy, and their name is derived from the Oneida word "ọ·ná·yote'" meaning "people of the standing stone".
The earliest recorded use of the name Oneita dates back to the late 17th century, when European settlers in the region began documenting their encounters with the Oneida tribe. It is likely that Oneita was originally a female name given to children born within the Oneida community, though its precise origins and meaning remain somewhat unclear.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Oneita was Oneita Wilcox, a member of the Oneida Nation who lived in the early 19th century. Wilcox was known for her involvement in the community and her efforts to preserve Oneida culture and traditions.
Another historical figure bearing the name was Oneita Burlingame, an educator and advocate for Native American rights who lived from 1876 to 1948. Burlingame dedicated her life to improving educational opportunities for indigenous children and promoting cultural understanding between Native and non-Native communities.
In the realm of literature, Oneita Codman is a character in the novel "The Pioneers" by James Fenimore Cooper, published in 1823. Codman is depicted as a young woman of the Oneida tribe, and her name serves as a nod to the author's familiarity with the indigenous people of the region.
Oneita Woolworth was a prominent businesswoman and philanthropist who lived from 1888 to 1975. As the daughter of the founder of the Woolworth Company, she was actively involved in the family business and also dedicated significant resources to various charitable causes, including support for education and the arts.
Finally, Oneita Sembrich, born in 1858, was a Polish-American opera singer renowned for her performances in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite her name's Native American origins, Sembrich achieved international acclaim as a soprano, performing in prestigious venues across Europe and the United States.
People
Oneita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oneita 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
Oneita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oneita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 123 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oneita 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 2,786,621 US residents.
Is Oneita a common name?
We classify Oneita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 869 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oneita most popular?
The single biggest year for Oneita was 1921, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oneita is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oneita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 240 people with the name Oneita, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,133 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 Oneita 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 Oneita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oneita leans strongly female. 241 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Oneita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oneita is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Black (30.0%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (3.3%). 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 Oneita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oneita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (151 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 Oneita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oneita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oneita 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.
Is Oneita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oneita 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 Oneita 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 Oneita?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.