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Osama

#5,339 in 2025Boys' name

Lion, through أُسَامَة

Osama has been given to 979 babies in the U.S. since 1968. In 2025 it ranked #5,339 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1999, with 65 recorded.

Babies named Osama, 2025

1 in 184,000

Osama over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Osama: meaning, origin, and history

Lion, through أُسَامَة

Arabic

What Osama means

Osama belongs to the name family reached through Osama → أُسَامَة. Its meaning is “lion”.

Origin, language, and formation

Osama is used in English. Its origins include Arabic.

Osama comes through Arabic أُسَامَة.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include أُسَامَة.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Osama is pronounced /oʊˈsɑmə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 979 boys were recorded with the name Osama between 1968 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 65 in 1999; its best national rank was #1,646 in 1999.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,320 in 2020 to #5,339 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,220 in 2015 to #5,339 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 Osama?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 184,000
18 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 94,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,339
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
127,662 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Osama 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 127,662 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Osama. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Osamas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Osama was born before 1996 — so the typical Osama is around 29 today.

Median birth year
1996
About 29 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
42.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
979
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 42.8% of all recorded uses (419).

Is Osama 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
+1,804
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+3,981
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+881
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.29×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
27.7%
Peak was 1999 (65)
Years since peak
26
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,646
1999

Spellings of Osama

Osama is not the most common spelling — Sam is, with 87.3% against Osama's 0.67%.

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 Osama is used

Across 1910–2025, Osama was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 330,917 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3Michigan1 in —
  4. 4New Jersey1 in —
  5. 5New York1 in —
  6. 6Texas1 in —
  7. 7Virginia1 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. Osama has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Osama around the world

Where Osama 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
    #2,440
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1995–2024
    #727
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2004–2004
    #506
    in 2004
  • France
    1988–2025
    #3,708
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2023
    #3,103
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1984–1990
    #484
    in 1990

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.

Osama by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,339
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 3,981
Best rank ever
#1,646
1999
Peak year
1999
65 that year
First recorded
1968
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
979
Count in 2025
18

Names similar to Osama

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

AdamaOsazeRamaOsamuOsaydOsaidUsamaOsamahYamaOsaOsagieJamaObamaOsahonOsaroOssamaOsaiahSamaOussamaOsaiTamaOsaretinElishama

Sibling names for Osama

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 Osama

Top names of 1999, Osama's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1999Boys' names starting with O