Oshai
A name of Turkish origin meaning "one who grows old admirably".
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Oshai. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Oshai today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oshai births was 1993 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oshai. 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 Oshai with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Oshai. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
1993
12 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,669
Tracked since 1992
Gender
Gender distribution for Oshai
Oshai is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 38 total registrations, 28 (73.7%) were male and 10 (26.3%) were female.
Oshai as a male name
- Ranked #13,669 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (7 births)
Oshai as a female name
- Ranked #15,110 in 1993
- 5 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1992 (5 births)
Popularity
Oshai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oshai from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 28 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Oshai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oshai 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 Oshai 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 Oshai
The name Oshai has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, which dates back to the 4th millennium BCE and was spoken in the region of southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. It is believed to be derived from the Sumerian word "ush-hai," which translates to "protector" or "guardian."
The earliest known reference to the name Oshai can be found in cuneiform inscriptions discovered in the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk, dating back to around 2800 BCE. These inscriptions mention an individual named "Ush-hai," who is believed to have been a high-ranking official or priest in the city's temple complex.
Throughout the centuries, the name Oshai has been associated with various historical figures from different cultures and regions. One notable person was Oshai ibn Idrisi, an Arab geographer and cartographer who lived in the 12th century CE. He is best known for his work titled "Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq," which was a detailed description of the known world at the time and included one of the earliest known maps of the world.
Another historical figure bearing the name Oshai was Oshai ben Shisha, a Jewish philosopher and scholar who lived in the 11th century CE in Baghdad. He was renowned for his contributions to the field of Jewish philosophy and his commentaries on the works of prominent Jewish thinkers.
In the early 20th century, Oshai Gabrilovitch was a Russian-born artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his avant-garde works and his association with the Cubist movement. He lived from 1878 to 1936 and spent much of his career in Paris, where he was part of the vibrant artistic community of the time.
Another notable person with the name Oshai was Oshai Gadish, an Israeli military leader who played a significant role in the Six-Day War of 1967. He served as the commander of the Israeli Air Force's elite fighter squadron and was credited with numerous successful missions during the conflict.
While the name Oshai has its roots in ancient Sumerian culture, it has transcended across various societies and centuries, with individuals bearing this name making their mark in diverse fields such as geography, philosophy, art, and military history.
People
Oshai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oshai 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
Oshai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oshai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oshai 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 Oshai a common name?
We classify Oshai 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, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oshai most popular?
The single biggest year for Oshai was 1993, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oshai is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Oshai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oshai a male name?
Yes, 73.7% of people registered as Oshai 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 Oshai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oshai 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 Oshai 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Oshai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.