Orpheus
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "he who withdraws".
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Orpheus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orpheus today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orpheus births was 1968 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orpheus. 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 Orpheus with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orpheus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
1968
11 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1987 SSA rank
#5,921
Tracked since 1916
Census
Orpheus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 127 people with the first name Orpheus, which placed it at #49,170 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
#49,170
National first-name rank
People counted
127
127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orpheus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orpheus is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (26.8%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Orpheus 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 Orpheus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.6% · 63
- White26.8% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino11.0% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 8
- Two or more races6.3% · 8
Popularity
Orpheus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orpheus from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 27 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Orpheus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orpheus 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 Orpheus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orpheus' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Orpheus
The name Orpheus has its origins in ancient Greek mythology and literature. It is derived from the Greek word "orphanos," meaning "orphan" or "desolate." The name is associated with the legendary musician, poet, and prophet Orpheus, who is a major figure in Greek mythology.
Orpheus was the son of the Thracian king Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope. He was renowned for his exceptional musical skills and his ability to charm all living things with his lyre. The most famous story about Orpheus is his descent into the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, after her untimely death.
The name Orpheus first appeared in ancient Greek literature, particularly in the works of poets such as Pindar and Euripides. It was also mentioned in the "Argonautica" by Apollonius of Rhodes, which recounts the myth of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece, with Orpheus as one of the crew members.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orpheus. One of the earliest was Orpheus of Croton, a Greek philosopher and poet who lived in the 6th century BCE. Another was Orpheus of Byzantium, a grammarian and philosopher who lived in the 4th century CE.
In the realm of music, Orpheus Caledonius was a 15th-century Scottish composer and poet. Orpheus Woodhouse was an English composer and organist who lived in the 17th century and wrote several works for the church.
More recently, Orpheus M. Kern was an American architect and urban planner who was born in 1888 and made significant contributions to the design of public spaces in New York City.
These are just a few examples of the individuals who have carried the name Orpheus throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and disciplines, reflecting the enduring legacy of this ancient Greek name.
People
Orpheus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orpheus 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
Orpheus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orpheus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orpheus 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 Orpheus a common name?
We classify Orpheus 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, 76 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orpheus most popular?
The single biggest year for Orpheus was 1968, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orpheus is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orpheus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 127 people with the name Orpheus, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,170 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 Orpheus 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 Orpheus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orpheus leans strongly male. 122 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 3 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 Orpheus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orpheus is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (26.8%) and Hispanic (11.0%). 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 Orpheus most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Orpheus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (63 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 Orpheus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orpheus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orpheus 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 Orpheus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orpheus 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 Orpheus 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 Orpheus?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.