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Oswald

#2,161 in 2025Boys' name

God, deity + power

Oswald has been given to 4,407 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,161 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1916, with 107 recorded.

Babies named Oswald, 2025

1 in 49,500

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Oswald: meaning, origin, and history

God, deity + power

Old English

What Oswald means

Oswald means “god, deity + power”, associated with ōs and weald.

Origin, language, and formation

Oswald is used in English and Polish. Its origins include Old English.

Oswald comes through Old English Ōsweald.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Answald and Ásvaldur.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Oswald is pronounced /ˈɒzwəld/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,407 boys were recorded with the name Oswald between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 107 in 1916; its best national rank was #465 in 1886.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,014 in 2020 to #2,161 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,046 in 2015 to #2,161 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 Oswald?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 49,500
67 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 25,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,161
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
34,298 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Oswald 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 34,298 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Oswald. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Oswalds were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Oswald was born before 1937 — so the typical Oswald is around 88 today.

Median birth year
1937
About 88 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
18.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,919
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.3% of all recorded uses (763).

Is Oswald 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
−33
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+853
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,885
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.58×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
62.6%
Peak was 1916 (107)
Years since peak
109
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#465
1886

Spellings of Oswald

Oswald is not the most common spelling — Osvaldo is, with 50.4% against Oswald's 15.3%.

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 Oswald is used

Across 2016–2025, Oswald was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 65,161 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

13 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 33,333
  2. 2Arizona1 in 50,000
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Florida1 in 100,000
  5. 5New York1 in 100,000
  6. 6Ohio1 in 100,000
  7. 7Pennsylvania1 in 100,000
  8. 8Texas1 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.

Oswald around the world

Where Oswald 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
    2002–2025
    #1,093
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2025–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • France
    1900–2025
    #3,169
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2012–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1953–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, 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. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Oswald

People whose public names include Oswald, 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.

Oswald in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Oswald. Linked forms have their own page here.

OsvaldoOswaldoOsvátOsvald

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Oswald by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,161
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 853
Best rank ever
#465
1886
Peak year
1916
107 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,407
Count in 2025
67

Names similar to Oswald

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

OswaldoHaraldJeraldDeraldOswinArchibaldHeraldEmeraldRenaldGaraldEwaldJerraldRonnaldFitzgeraldOswellDaraldDonnaldGeraldReginaldMcdonaldRanaldRoaldGerraldLonald

Names with a curve like Oswald

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

ValentineSylvanGoldenHendersonWellingtonGustavSilvioJudgeIgnatiusCrawfordOranCasimir

Sibling names for Oswald

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 Oswald

Top names of 1916, Oswald's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1886Boys' names starting with O