Osceola
A Native American name meaning "black drink cry" or "shoutout leader".
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Osceola. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Osceola today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osceola births was 1917 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osceola. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Osceola. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
1917
15 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2009 SSA rank
#4,105
Tracked since 1906
Census
Osceola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 157 people with the first name Osceola, which placed it at #44,257 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
#44,257
National first-name rank
People counted
157
157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
58.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Osceola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osceola is Black at 58.6%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Osceola 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 Osceola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American58.6% · 92
- White17.2% · 27
- Two or more races10.2% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native8.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Osceola
Osceola is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 209 total registrations, 61 (29.2%) were male and 148 (70.8%) were female.
Osceola as a male name
- Ranked #13,943 in 2009
- 5 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1917 (9 births)
Osceola as a female name
- Ranked #4,105 in 1935
- 6 female births in 1935
- Peak: 1915 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osceola on both sides of the split. Of the 156 people counted with this name, 117 were male (75.0%) and 39 were female (25.0%).
Popularity
Osceola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osceola from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 73 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
Osceola 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 Osceola 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 Osceola
Osceola is a Native American name derived from the Creek language. The name originated among the Seminole tribe, a Native American people who historically inhabited the Florida region. It is believed to have emerged in the early 19th century.
The name Osceola is a compound word formed from the Creek terms "asi" meaning "black" and "holo" meaning "drink." The literal translation of Osceola is "black drink," which refers to a traditional tea made from the leaves of the Ilex vomitoria plant, also known as the yaupon holly. This tea was used in ceremonial rituals by various Native American tribes in the southeastern United States.
One of the most famous historical figures bearing the name Osceola was a Seminole leader who played a significant role in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) against the United States. Born in the early 1800s, Osceola led the Seminole resistance against the forced relocation of his people to lands west of the Mississippi River. He became a prominent figure in the conflict and was eventually captured by the U.S. Army in 1837 under controversial circumstances.
In ancient texts and historical records, the name Osceola is not widely documented. However, it has been mentioned in accounts related to the Seminole Wars and the history of Florida during the 19th century.
Other notable individuals named Osceola include:
1. Osceola (1804-1838), the famous Seminole leader mentioned above.
2. Osceola Turl (1883-1961), a Native American artist and educator from the Choctaw Nation.
3. Osceola Chitto Harjo (1906-1980), a traditional Creek medicine man and leader of the Muscogee Creek Nation.
4. Osceola Mays (1887-1977), a Native American educator and activist from the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
5. Osceola Phillips (1915-2004), a Seminole artist and craftsman known for his woodcarvings and traditional dolls.
The name Osceola has been carried through history by various individuals, primarily from Native American communities, and holds significant cultural and historical significance, particularly in relation to the Seminole tribe and their struggles against forced relocation and oppression.
People
Osceola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osceola 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
Osceola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osceola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osceola 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 9,263,631 US residents.
Is Osceola a common name?
We classify Osceola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 209 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osceola most popular?
The single biggest year for Osceola was 1917, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osceola is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Osceola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 157 people with the name Osceola, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,257 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 Osceola 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 Osceola?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Osceola on both sides of the split. Of the 156 people counted with this name, 117 were male (75.0%) and 39 were female (25.0%). 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 Osceola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Osceola is Black at 58.6%. The next largest groups are White (17.2%) and Two or More Races (10.2%). 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 Osceola most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Osceola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.6% (92 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 Osceola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osceola a female name?
Yes, 70.8% of people registered as Osceola in the SSA data are female. 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 Osceola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osceola 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 Osceola 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 Osceola?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.