Osualdo
A masculine name of French origin likely meaning "divine power" or "divine ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 364 living Americans carry the first name Osualdo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Osualdo today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Osualdo births was 1993 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Osualdo. 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.
People living today
364
~ 1 in 941,633 Americans
Peak year
1993
17 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2007 SSA rank
#11,979
Tracked since 1957
Popularity
Osualdo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Osualdo from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 98 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Osualdo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Osualdo 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 Osualdo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Osualdos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Georgia recorded the most babies named Osualdo, while Georgia, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Osualdo
The name Osualdo originates from the Germanic languages, likely with roots in Old High German or Old Saxon. It is a compound name, with the first part "Os" potentially derived from the word "osan" meaning "divine" or "godly," and the second part "wald" meaning "rule" or "govern." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with a person of divine or noble authority.
In the early medieval period, the name appeared in various spellings, such as Oswald, Oswaldt, and Oswaldus, across regions where Germanic languages were spoken, including parts of modern-day Germany, the Netherlands, and England. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Saint Oswald, the King of Northumbria in the 7th century, who played a significant role in the spread of Christianity in Britain.
During the Middle Ages, the name Osualdo remained in use, particularly in regions with Germanic cultural influences. Notable figures bearing this name include Oswald of Worcester, an English Benedictine monk and scholar who lived in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, and Oswald of Northumbria, a 12th-century English nobleman and landowner.
In the Renaissance period, the name Osualdo saw some usage, though it was less common than its variants. One notable figure was Osualdo Araldi, an Italian painter and architect who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, known for his work in Bologna and Modena.
As the name spread across Europe, it took on various spellings and forms in different languages. In Spain, for instance, the name appeared as Osvaldo, while in Italy it was sometimes rendered as Osvaldo or Osualdo. One prominent Italian figure with this name was Osualdo Ferri, a 17th-century painter and architect active in Rome and Bologna.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Osualdo remained relatively rare, with a few notable individuals such as Osualdo Visconti di Modrone, an Italian nobleman and politician who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and Osualdo Ferretto, an Italian historian and archaeologist active in the late 19th century.
People
Osualdo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Osualdo 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
Osualdo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Osualdo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 364 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Osualdo 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 941,633 US residents.
Is Osualdo a common name?
We classify Osualdo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 387 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Osualdo most popular?
The single biggest year for Osualdo was 1993, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Osualdo is about 42 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 Osualdo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Osualdo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Osualdo 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 Osualdo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Osualdo 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 Osualdo 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 Osualdo?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Osualdo at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.