Orpheus

Boys' name

Possibly orphan

Orpheus has been given to 81 babies in the U.S. since 1916. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1968, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Orpheus, 2024

1 in 669,000

Orpheus over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Orpheus: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly orphan

Ancient Greek

What Orpheus means

Orpheus may mean “orphan”, associated with orphanós.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Ancient Greek Ὀρφεύς (Orpheús), built from an uncertain root with the -εύς (-eús) suffix. Perhaps root-cognate to Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphan”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Orpheus (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Orpheus is used in English and Cebuano. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Orpheus comes through Ancient Greek Ὀρφεύς.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Orpheus is pronounced /ˈɔɹ.fi.əs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 81 boys were recorded with the name Orpheus between 1916 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1968; its best national rank was #2,687 in 1968.

How common is Orpheus?

Orpheus had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024: 1 in 669,000; 5 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only: 1 in 345,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 463,412 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Orpheus 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 2024 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 463,412 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Orpheus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Orpheuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Orpheus was born before 1969 — so the typical Orpheus is around 56 today.

Median birth year: 1969; About 56 years old
Biggest decade: 1960s; 33.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 6.2%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 65; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1960s — 33.3% of all recorded uses (27).

Is Orpheus 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1968 (11)
Years since peak: 57; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 22.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,687; 1968

Spellings of Orpheus

Orpheus is not the most common spelling — Alpheus is, with 90.5% against Orpheus's 9.5%.

Alpheus90.5%770
Orpheus9.5%81

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 Orpheus is used

Across 1910–2025, Orpheus was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,706,895 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Illinois1 in —

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. Orpheus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Orpheus around the world

Where Orpheus 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
2013–2025
#3,684
in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Orpheus by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,687; 1968
Peak year: 1968; 11 that year
First recorded: 1916
Last recorded: 2024
All-time count: 81
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Orpheus

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

Zagreus Antaeus Astraeus Artreus Finneus Theseus Mattheus Achilleus Andreus Asmodeus Zacheus Matteus Dareus Prometheus Zaccheus Alphaeus Odysseus Thadeus Orphus Darieus Atraeus Phineus Perseus Tadeus

Sibling names for Orpheus

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

For a sister

Nichelle Aretha Brigette Josette Shelli Shannan Cami Missy

For a brother

Kraig Kelley Stacey Thad Tracey Jacques Deron Judd

Explore around Orpheus

Top names of 1968, Orpheus's peak year The 1960s in full Other names that peaked in 1968 Boys' names starting with O Greek Hero Names