Oskar
A masculine name of Old German origin meaning "divine spear" or "spear of the gods".
Name Census estimates that about 3,100 living Americans carry the first name Oskar. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Oskar today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Oskar births was 2016 (160 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Oskar. 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 Oskar with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Oskar is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,566 Americans
Peak year
2016
160 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,721
Tracked since 1916
Census
Oskar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,935 people with the first name Oskar, which placed it at #5,720 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
#5,720
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,935 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Oskar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oskar is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.3%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Oskar 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 Oskar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 1,972
- Hispanic or Latino25.3% · 742
- Two or more races4.6% · 136
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 52
- Black or African American0.9% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 7
Popularity
Oskar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Oskar from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,318 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Oskar remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Oskar 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 Oskar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Oskars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, New York, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Oskar, while Utah, Ohio, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Oskar
The name Oskar has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the Germanic root words "Os" meaning "divine" and "hari" meaning "army" or "warrior." Thus, the name Oskar initially signified a "divine warrior" or a "warrior of God." It emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 8th to 10th centuries, when Old English and other Germanic languages were prevalent across much of northern Europe.
This name gained popularity during the Christian era, particularly among Germanic tribes that had converted to Christianity. It is believed that the name was often bestowed upon children with the hope that they would grow to be valiant and pious warriors, defending their faith and their people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Oskar can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, where it appears as "Ásgeirr" or "Ásgeir," a variation of the same root words. These sagas, which date back to the 13th century, depict tales of Viking heroes and their adventures, lending the name an air of bravery and honor.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Oskar. One of the most famous is the Swedish playwright and novelist Oskar Arnulv Mellander, better known as Oskar Verner (1838-1909), whose works explored themes of love, loss, and social commentary.
Another prominent Oskar was the German filmmaker Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), who is celebrated for his courageous efforts in saving the lives of over a thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust. His story was immortalized in the acclaimed film "Schindler's List."
In the realm of music, the name Oskar is associated with the renowned Swedish composer and conductor Oskar Lindberg (1887-1955), whose works were deeply influenced by the folk music of his homeland.
The literary world has also been graced by individuals bearing this name, such as the Austrian novelist and playwright Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), known for his expressionist works that explored themes of love, war, and human psychology.
Finally, one cannot overlook the legacy of Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), a German painter, sculptor, and choreographer who played a pivotal role in the Bauhaus movement, pioneering new forms of abstract art and dance.
People
Oskar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Oskar 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
Oskar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oskar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Oskar 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 110,566 US residents.
Is Oskar a common name?
We classify Oskar as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,148 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Oskar most popular?
The single biggest year for Oskar was 2016, when 160 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Oskar is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Oskar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,935 people with the name Oskar, or 0.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,720 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 Oskar 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 Oskar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Oskar appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,930 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Oskar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Oskar is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.3%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Oskar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Oskar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (1,972 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 Oskar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Oskar a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Oskar 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 Oskar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Oskar 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 Oskar 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 named Oskar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.