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Orson

#1,433 in 2025Boys' name

Bear

Orson has been given to 2,714 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #1,433 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 132 recorded.

Babies named Orson, 2025

1 in 26,300

Orson over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Orson: meaning, origin, and history

Bear

surname transfer

What Orson means

Orson means “bear”.

Origin, language, and formation

Orson is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Orson is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Norman French.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Orson is pronounced /ˈɔɹsən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,714 boys were recorded with the name Orson between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 132 in 2023; its best national rank was #549 in 1883.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,573 in 2020 to #1,433 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,126 in 2015 to #1,433 in 2025.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Orson?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 26,300
126 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 13,600
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,433
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
18,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Orson 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 18,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Orson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Orsons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Orson was born before 2006 — so the typical Orson is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
26.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
52.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,977
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 26.1% of all recorded uses (708).

Is Orson 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
+59
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+140
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+693
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.91×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
95.5%
Peak was 2023 (132)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#549
1883

Spellings of Orson

Orson is not the most common spelling — Jason is, with 49.9% against Orson's 0.13%.

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 Orson is used

Across 2016–2025, Orson was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 7,692 boys, against 1 in 20,934 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

113 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 7,692
  2. 2Washington1 in 9,091
  3. 3Colorado1 in 12,500
  4. 4New York1 in 12,500
  5. 5Minnesota1 in 14,286
  6. 6California1 in 16,667
  7. 7Oregon1 in 16,667
  8. 8Wisconsin1 in 20,000

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.

Orson around the world

Where Orson 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
    1996–2025
    #379
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2012–2025
    #560
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2021–2024
    #785
    in 2024
  • France
    1990–2025
    #1,874
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2013–2024
    #1,105
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1976–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Orson

People whose public names include Orson, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Orson by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,433
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 140
Best rank ever
#549
1883
Peak year
2023
132 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,714
Count in 2025
126

Names similar to Orson

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

EasonDysonEdsonElsonJensonWessonKolsonAnsonVinsonHansonJaisonGersonLarsonAesonMaisonKysonMaysonAysonPaysonKelsonCasonGibsonJassonColeson

Names with a curve like Orson

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

RushJethroTheodorJonesWestEllisonHollandConwayAnselWatsonOzzieLink

Sibling names for Orson

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 Orson

Top names of 2023, Orson's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1883Boys' names starting with O