Name Awesome

Obie

#8,061 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Obie has been given to 4,436 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #8,061 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1924, with 88 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 94% boys, 6% girls all-time.

Babies named Obie, 2025

1 in 332,000

Obie over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Obie over time

In 2025, Obie went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18802025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Obie: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Obie means

Obie is a given name.

The naming story behind Obie

Wikidata records Obie as a male given name. The entity identifier is Q66264096, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,165 boys were recorded with the name Obie between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 88 in 1924; its best national rank was #468 in 1899.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,916 in 2020 to #8,061 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,912 in 2015 to #8,061 in 2025.

In the United States, 271 girls were recorded with the name Obie between 1900 and 1948. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1916; its best national rank was #1,390 in 1905.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Obie?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 171,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,061
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Obie sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Obie. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Obies were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Obie was born before 1938 — so the typical Obie is around 87 today.

Median birth year
1938
About 87 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
16.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
8.3%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,494
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 16.3% of all recorded uses (680).

Is Obie rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−2,678
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,145
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,149
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.67×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
11.4%
Peak was 1924 (88)
Years since peak
101
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#468
1899

Spellings of Obie

Obie is not the most common spelling — Otis is, with 16.3% against Obie's 1.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Obie is used

Across 1910–2025, Obie was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 60,013 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

08 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 12,500
  2. 2Mississippi1 in 14,286
  3. 3Georgia1 in 16,667
  4. 4Arkansas1 in 20,000
  5. 5Kentucky1 in 33,333
  6. 6Texas1 in 33,333
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Obie has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Obie around the world

Where Obie ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2025
    #1,093
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2022–2022
    #703
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1976–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Obie by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,061
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,145
Best rank ever
#468
1899
Peak year
1924
88 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,165
Count in 2025
10

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,390
1905
Peak year
1916
13 that year
First recorded
1900
Last recorded
1948
All-time count
271
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Obie

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AbieKobieObinnaObiBobbieRobbieRobieAlbieTobieKolbieColbieOrbieHerbieArbieJakobieJobieHobieCobieBobieAbbieEbbieObbieDebbieJacobie

Names with a curve like Obie

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Obie, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

GarnettLonzoRowlandOranAdolphusBertrandDorseyWebsterHowellEnnisIvyLoy

Sibling names for Obie

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Obie

Top names of 1924, Obie's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1899Boys' names starting with O