Osborn
Germanic name meaning "divine bear" or "bear power".
Name Census estimates that about 216 living Americans carry the first name Osborn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osborn today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osborn births was 1923 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osborn. 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 Osborn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
216
~ 1 in 1,586,826 Americans
Peak year
1923
22 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,604
Tracked since 1884
Census
Osborn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 265 people with the first name Osborn, which placed it at #32,010 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
#32,010
National first-name rank
People counted
265
265 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osborn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osborn is Black at 39.6%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.5%). 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 Osborn 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 Osborn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.6% · 105
- White35.5% · 94
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.5% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 12
- Two or more races4.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Popularity
Osborn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osborn from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 133 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
Osborn 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 Osborn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Osborns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Mississippi, New York recorded the most babies named Osborn, while New York, Mississippi, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osborn
The name Osborn is an English name that originated in the Anglo-Saxon period. It is derived from the Old English words "os" meaning "divine" and "beorn" meaning "bear." The name was initially used to denote a person of divine strength or power, akin to a bear.
The earliest known record of the name Osborn dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Osbernus." This early spelling variation highlights the name's linguistic roots and its evolution over time.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Osborn was Osborn of Canterbury, a 12th-century English Benedictine monk and historian. He is known for his work "De Vita et Miraculis Sancti Dunstani" (The Life and Miracles of St. Dunstan), which chronicled the life of the Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Dunstan.
In the 13th century, Osborn de Solli (c. 1200-1268) was an English nobleman and landowner from Somerset. He played a significant role in the Baron's War against King Henry III, fighting alongside Simon de Montfort.
During the Renaissance period, Osborn Wyddel (c. 1520-1595) was an Irish astronomer and mathematician. He is credited with translating the works of Ptolemy and other ancient Greek astronomers into English, contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the 16th century.
In the 17th century, Osborn Drighouse (1609-1669) was an English clergyman and theologian. He served as the Archdeacon of Lewes and authored several religious works, including "A Summary View of the Holy Bible."
Osborn Russell (1833-1920) was a prominent American fur trader, entrepreneur, and wilderness explorer in the 19th century. He is known for his expeditions into the Rocky Mountains and his contributions to the development of the American West.
Throughout history, the name Osborn has maintained its association with strength, divinity, and intellectual pursuits. While it has evolved in spelling and pronunciation, its roots remain deeply intertwined with the rich cultural and linguistic heritage of the Anglo-Saxon period.
People
Osborn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osborn 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
Osborn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osborn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 216 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osborn 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 1,586,826 US residents.
Is Osborn a common name?
We classify Osborn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 597 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osborn most popular?
The single biggest year for Osborn was 1923, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osborn is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osborn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 265 people with the name Osborn, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,010 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 Osborn 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 Osborn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Osborn leans strongly male. 252 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 13 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 Osborn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osborn is Black at 39.6%. The next largest groups are White (35.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.5%). 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 Osborn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Osborn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.6% (105 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 Osborn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osborn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osborn 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 Osborn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osborn 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 Osborn 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 are called Osborn?
You can see how many Americans are named Osborn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.