Orlie
A diminutive form of the French masculine name Aurèle or Aurélien with Latin origins.
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Orlie. It is a predominantly male name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Orlie today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orlie births was 1918 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orlie. 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 Orlie is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orlies were born before 1954.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orlie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
1918
20 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1961 SSA rank
#4,490
Tracked since 1885
Census
Orlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 176 people with the first name Orlie, which placed it at #41,537 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
#41,537
National first-name rank
People counted
176
176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orlie is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Orlie 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 Orlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 126
- Black or African American11.4% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 4
- Two or more races2.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Orlie
Orlie leans heavily male at 96.6% of total registrations, but 12 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Orlie as a male name
- Ranked #4,490 in 1961
- 5 male births in 1961
- Peak: 1918 (20 births)
Orlie as a female name
- Ranked #4,683 in 1927
- 6 female births in 1927
- Peak: 1919 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Orlie on both sides of the split. Of the 168 people counted with this name, 109 were male (64.9%) and 59 were female (35.1%).
Popularity
Orlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orlie from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 112 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
Orlie 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 Orlie 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 Orlie
The name Orlie is believed to have its origins in the Scandinavian languages, specifically Old Norse. It is derived from the combination of two words: "or," meaning "to begin," and "leifr," meaning "descendant" or "heir." The name can be interpreted as "the beginning of a lineage" or "the first heir."
During the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the name Orlie gained popularity among Norse settlers and explorers. It was commonly used in areas such as modern-day Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of Iceland and Greenland. The name's association with the concept of inheritance and legacy may have resonated with the Norse culture, where familial ties and lineage were highly valued.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orlie can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical narratives and tales dating back to the 13th century. In the Saga of Erik the Red, there is a character named Orlie Thorvaldsson, who was one of the first Norse settlers in Greenland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orlie, though its usage has been relatively uncommon compared to more widespread names. Here are five examples:
1. Orlie Daniel (1888-1968), an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves in the early 20th century.
2. Orlie O. Clark (1850-1935), an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri in the late 19th century.
3. Orlie Norris (1883-1958), an American college basketball player and coach who played for the University of Wisconsin and later coached at several universities, including Purdue and Penn State.
4. Orlie A. Peckham (1853-1936), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Peckham Motor Truck and Wheel Company in Detroit, Michigan.
5. Orlie Reid (1884-1948), a Canadian politician and farmer who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the early 20th century.
While the name Orlie may have its roots in ancient Norse culture, it has continued to be used, albeit infrequently, throughout various regions and time periods, carrying with it a sense of heritage and lineage.
People
Orlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orlie 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
Orlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orlie 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 6,231,897 US residents.
Is Orlie a common name?
We classify Orlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 357 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Orlie was 1918, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orlie is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 176 people with the name Orlie, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,537 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 Orlie 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 Orlie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Orlie on both sides of the split. Of the 168 people counted with this name, 109 were male (64.9%) and 59 were female (35.1%). 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 Orlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orlie is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Orlie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (126 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 Orlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orlie a male name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Orlie 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 Orlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orlie 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 Orlie 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 have Orlie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Orlie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.