Oscar
Boy nameOscar has been given to 214,168 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It peaked in 2006 and currently ranks #223 for boys (2025).
Meaning & origin /ˈɑs.kɚ/
Exact origin uncertain. Resuscitated by James Mcpherson in The Works of Ossian (1765). Napoleon, an admirer of the Ossianic poems, chose it for his godson Oscar Bernadotte, who became a king of Sweden. The modern given name is a conflation of two unrelated names: first, Middle Irish Oscar (the name of Fionn Mac Cumhaill's grandson in Irish mythology), from Middle Irish os (“deer”) + cara (“friend”); and second, Old English Ōscār, Ōsgār (personal name, literally “spear of the gods/spear of God”), from Old English ōs (“god”) and gār (“spear”) (see Oswald). Compare German Ans
Origin: Irish, Old English
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025
Total babies
214,168
Peak year
2006 (3,607 babies)
Rank in 2025
#223 for boys
First recorded
1880
10-year trend
▼ -30%
Gender split
0% girls / 100% boys
Famous people named Oscar
Oscar Wilde
Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900)
Oscar Niemeyer
Brazilian architect (1907–2012)
Oscar Pistorius
South African sprinter and convicted murderer (born 1986)
Gustaf V of Sweden
King of Sweden from 1907 to 1950
Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).
Names with a similar vibe
Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Oscar.
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