Orvin
Scandinavian name derived from the Old Norse given name Arnfinnr, meaning "eagle warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 294 living Americans carry the first name Orvin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orvin today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orvin births was 1917 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orvin. 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 Orvin is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orvins were born before 1971.
People living today
294
~ 1 in 1,165,831 Americans
Peak year
1917
45 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,666
Tracked since 1890
Census
Orvin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 527 people with the first name Orvin, which placed it at #19,863 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
#19,863
National first-name rank
People counted
527
527 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orvin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orvin is White at 48.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.0%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Orvin 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 Orvin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.8% · 257
- Hispanic or Latino33.0% · 174
- Black or African American12.7% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 16
- Two or more races1.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Popularity
Orvin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orvin from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 334 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
Orvin 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 Orvin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orvins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota recorded the most babies named Orvin, while South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orvin
The given name Orvin has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically Old Norse and Old English. The name is believed to have derived from the combination of the Old Norse word "ǫrr," meaning "wind" or "storm," and the Old English word "wine," meaning "friend."
In ancient Norse mythology, the name may have been associated with the god Odin, who was often depicted as a wanderer or traveler, riding on the winds. This connection could have contributed to the name's early popularity among Norse and Anglo-Saxon communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orvin dates back to the 9th century, when it appeared in the Domesday Book, a record of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name was primarily found in regions with strong Norse influences, such as Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orvin. One of the earliest was Orvin the Seafarer (c. 850-920), a Norse explorer and trader who is said to have traveled as far as the Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions. Another was Orvin of Mercia (c. 950-1015), a Saxon noble and military commander who played a role in the conflicts between the Anglo-Saxons and the invading Danes.
In the 12th century, Orvin of Rheims (c. 1110-1180) was a French scholar and theologian who made significant contributions to the study of canon law and biblical exegesis. During the same period, Orvin the Minstrel (c. 1145-1215) was a renowned troubadour and poet in the courts of southern France and northern Spain.
In more recent times, Orvin Mastin (1914-2003) was an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Mastin Gould's Paper Corporation, one of the largest paper companies in the United States.
While the name Orvin has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains a part of the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of the Germanic peoples, reflecting their connections to the natural world and their exploration of new lands.
People
Orvin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orvin 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
Orvin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orvin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 294 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orvin 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 1,165,831 US residents.
Is Orvin a common name?
We classify Orvin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,140 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orvin most popular?
The single biggest year for Orvin was 1917, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orvin is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orvin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 527 people with the name Orvin, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,863 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 Orvin 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 Orvin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orvin appears almost entirely male. Of the 525 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Orvin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orvin is White at 48.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (33.0%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Orvin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orvin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.8% (257 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 Orvin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orvin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orvin 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 Orvin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orvin 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 Orvin 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 Orvin as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.