Orvis
Meaning unknown, possibly related to the Latin word "orbus" meaning "bereft".
Name Census estimates that about 169 living Americans carry the first name Orvis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orvis today is around 83 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orvis births was 1920 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orvis. 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 Orvis is about 83 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Orvis' were born before 1953.
People living today
169
~ 1 in 2,028,132 Americans
Peak year
1920
44 babies that year
Average age
83
years old
1961 SSA rank
#3,578
Tracked since 1885
Census
Orvis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 270 people with the first name Orvis, which placed it at #31,633 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
#31,633
National first-name rank
People counted
270
270 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orvis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orvis is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Orvis 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 Orvis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.6% · 231
- Black or African American8.1% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 12
- Two or more races1.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
Popularity
Orvis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orvis from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 315 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
Orvis 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 Orvis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orvis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas recorded the most babies named Orvis, while Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orvis
The given name Orvis has its origins in an old Germanic language, tracing back to the 5th or 6th century AD. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic root word "aurwis," which means "to hunt with a bow and arrow." This root word later evolved into variations such as "orvis" and "orviss" in Old Norse and Old English, respectively.
During the Middle Ages, the name Orvis was particularly prevalent in parts of present-day Scandinavia and the British Isles. It was often associated with skilled archers, hunters, and warriors who excelled in the use of bows and arrows.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orvis can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of medieval Norse literature. In the Saga of Grettir the Strong, written in the 13th century, there is a character named Orvis Oddsson, a renowned archer and hunter from Iceland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orvis. One such figure was Orvis Kenney (1770-1842), an American soldier who fought in the War of 1812 and later became a successful farmer and landowner in upstate New York.
In the 19th century, Orvis Sanford (1831-1909) was a prominent American businessman and industrialist. He founded the Sanford Ink Company, which became one of the leading manufacturers of writing inks and related products in the United States.
Another notable bearer of the name was Orvis Collins (1859-1923), an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of Florida from 1909 to 1913. He played a significant role in the development of the state's infrastructure and education system during his tenure.
In the early 20th century, Orvis Ring (1901-1988) was an American architect known for his work in the Art Deco style. He designed several iconic buildings in Miami Beach, including the Roney Plaza Hotel and the Cavalier Hotel.
More recently, Orvis Orvis (1928-2013) was an American painter and sculptor renowned for his abstract expressionist works. His paintings and sculptures were exhibited in many prestigious galleries and museums throughout the United States.
While the name Orvis has its roots in ancient Germanic languages, it has endured through the ages and been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including soldiers, businessmen, politicians, architects, and artists.
People
Orvis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orvis 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
Orvis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orvis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 169 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orvis 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 2,028,132 US residents.
Is Orvis a common name?
We classify Orvis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orvis most popular?
The single biggest year for Orvis was 1920, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orvis is about 83 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orvis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 270 people with the name Orvis, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,633 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 Orvis 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 Orvis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orvis leans strongly male. 270 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 14 female bearers (4.9%). 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 Orvis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orvis is White at 85.6%. The next largest groups are Black (8.1%) and Hispanic (4.4%). 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 Orvis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orvis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (231 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 Orvis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orvis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orvis 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 Orvis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orvis 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 Orvis 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 Orvis?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Orvis at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.