How popular is the baby name Oscar in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Oscar.

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Popularity of the baby name Oscar


Posts that mention the name Oscar

Where did the baby name Hobby come from in 1918?

Texas politician William P. Hobby (1878-1964)
William P. Hobby

The curious name Hobby first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1918:

  • 1920: unlisted
  • 1919: unlisted
  • 1918: 9 baby boys named Hobby [debut]
    • All 9 born in Texas
  • 1917: unlisted
  • 1916: unlisted

After that, the name never returned — making it a one-hit wonder. (In fact, it was one of the top one-hit wonders of 1918.)

For comparison, here’s data from the Social Security Death Index:

  • 1920: 1 person with the first name Hobby
  • 1919: 4 people with the first name Hobby
  • 1918: 8 people with the first name Hobby
  • 1917: 1 person with the first name Hobby
  • 1916: 1 person with the first name Hobby

So, why were Texas parents naming their sons Hobby in the late 1910s?

Because of Texas politician William Pettus Hobby.

In mid-1917 — while Hobby was serving his second term as lieutenant governor of Texas — Governor James Edward Ferguson was impeached and convicted. Upon Ferguson’s removal from office, Hobby succeeded him as governor.

The following November, Hobby was elected governor in his own right. He served a full two-year term from January of 1919 until January of 1921.

Before and after his political career, Hobby was employed in the newspapers business — working his way up from circulation clerk in the 1890s to chairman of the board of the Houston Post Company in the 1950s.

What are your thoughts on the name Hobby? (Do you like it more or less than Hoby?)

P.S. Another early 20th-century Texas governor two influenced baby names was Oscar Branch Colquitt.

Sources: William P. Hobby – Wikipedia, William Pettus Hobby – Texas State Historical Association, SSA

Image: W. P. Hobby (LOC)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2023

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland — welcomed roughly 55,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Grace and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl Names

  1. Grace, 339 baby girls
  2. Fiadh (pronounced FEE-a), 300
  3. Emily, 297
  4. Sophie, 283
  5. Lily, 270
  6. Ellie, 252
  7. Mia, 242
  8. Amelia, 241 (tie)
  9. Éabha (pronounced EY-va), 241 (tie)
  10. Ella, 231
  11. Isla, 227
  12. Hannah, 226
  13. Sophia, 218
  14. Lucy, 214
  15. Ava, 207
  16. Sadie, 200
  17. Olivia, 199
  18. Freya, 188
  19. Emma, 183
  20. Chloe, 181
  21. Robyn, 180
  22. Molly, 176
  23. Anna, 166 (tie)
  24. Croía (pronounced KREE-a), 166 (tie)
  25. Evie, 165
  26. Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va), 158
  27. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha), 157 (tie)
  28. Cara, 157 (tie)
  29. Sofia, 156
  30. Millie, 150
  31. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa), 148
  32. Isabelle, 132
  33. Bonnie, 130
  34. Maya, 128 (tie)
  35. Ada, 128 (tie)
  36. Róisín (pronounced ROH-sheen), 127
  37. Ruby, 126
  38. Kate, 123 (tie)
  39. Alice, 123 (tie)
  40. Holly, 120 (3-way tie)
  41. Erin, 120 (3-way tie)
  42. Sadhbh (pronounced siev; rhymes with “5”), 120 (3-way tie)
  43. Leah, 119
  44. Isabella, 118 (3-way tie)
  45. Ailbhe (pronounced AL-va), 118 (3-way tie)
  46. Méabh (pronounced mayv), 118 (3-way tie)
  47. Zoe, 115
  48. Annie, 112
  49. Ivy, 111
  50. Willow, 110

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 561 baby boys
  2. Noah, 473
  3. James, 369
  4. Rían (pronounced REE-an), 339
  5. Oisín (pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen), 330
  6. Fionn (pronounced fyun or fyoon), 306
  7. Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of “tiger”), 301
  8. Liam, 289
  9. Cillian (pronounced KIL-ee-an), 275
  10. Daniel, 256
  11. Finn, 251
  12. Conor, 244 (tie)
  13. Charlie, 244 (tie)
  14. Seán (pronounced shawn), 240
  15. Michael, 239
  16. Leo, 237
  17. Theo, 233
  18. Thomas, 227
  19. Patrick, 221
  20. Luke, 215
  21. Tommy, 214
  22. Oliver, 211
  23. Adam, 201
  24. Harry, 198
  25. Luca, 197
  26. Darragh, 195
  27. Alex, 175
  28. Bobby, 157
  29. Cian (pronounced KEE-an or keen), 156
  30. Oscar, 154
  31. John, 152 (tie)
  32. Max, 152 (tie)
  33. Ryan, 151
  34. Páidí (pronounced PAW-dee), 150
  35. Jamie, 149
  36. Ben, 147
  37. Kai, 141 (tie)
  38. Ollie, 141 (tie)
  39. Tom, 135
  40. Matthew, 134
  41. Dylan, 132
  42. Callum, 131
  43. Sonny, 130
  44. Sam, 129
  45. Ethan, 127 (tie)
  46. Alfie, 127 (tie)
  47. David, 122
  48. Alexander, 118
  49. Mason, 116
  50. Caelan, 114

New to the girls’ top 100 were Lucia, Cadhla (pronounced KIE-la) and Síofra (pronounced SHEE-fra).

New to the boys’ top 100 were Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna (pronounced EY-na) and Dáithí (pronounced DAH-hee).

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Éala (increased by 41 baby girls), Ailbhe (+40), Méabh (+36), Zara (+33), Croía (+26)
  • Caelan (increased by 58 baby boys), Páidí (+41), Arlo (+35), Tommy (+30), Mark (+28)

And the fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Síofra (rose 57 spots on the girls’ list), Lucia (+43), Éala (+38), Lottie (+36), Zara (+31)
  • Caelan (rose 58 spots on the boys’ list), Mark (+46), Ruairí (+41), Eoin (+37), Arlo (+31)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)		GraceJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)		GraceJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)		FiadhJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)		LilyJack

And what about the baby names at the other end of the spectrum?

Here’s a selection of the names that were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Adara, Brídín, Cushla, Dottie, Eilidh, Féile, Gillian, Hezlin, Iona, Jolene, Kalina, Lorna, Maliha, Natasha, Ocean, Philomena, Ríonach, Saffie, Tuiren, Vedika, Yasmine, ZadieAlby, Bram, Conal, Douglas, Elvis, Finnian, Gerald, Igor, Jonnie, Keenan, Lughaidh, Maitiú, Nathanael, Orin, Patryk, Rylan, Séadhna, Téidí, Ultán, Viktor, Wren, Yohan, Zachariah

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2023), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popular baby names in Norway, 2022

Flag of Norway
Flag of Norway

Last year, the Scandinavian country of Norway (which shares a border with three other countries: Sweden, Finland, and Russia) welcomed 51,480 babies — over 25,000 girls and nearly 26,500 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Nora for girls, and tie between Jakob and Noah for boys.

Here are Norway’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Nora/Norah/Noora, 359 baby girls
  2. Emma, 337
  3. Olivia, 331
  4. Ella, 326
  5. Sofie/Sophie, 315
  6. Leah/Lea, 288
  7. Frida, 269
  8. Iben, 266 (tie)
  9. Sofia/Sophia, 266 (tie)
  10. Sara/Sarah/Zara, 262
  11. Maja/Maya/Maia, 258
  12. Ingrid, 253
  13. Alma, 249
  14. Selma, 247
  15. Emilie, 243
  16. Ada, 242
  17. Astrid/Astri, 235
  18. Hedda, 233
  19. Anna, 218
  20. Amalie, 211
  21. Ellinor, 210
  22. Aurora, 208
  23. Hedvig, 205
  24. Tiril/Tirill, 203
  25. Hanna/Hannah, 198
  26. Eva, 195
  27. Jenny, 186
  28. Mia, 184
  29. Vilde, 180
  30. Mathilde/Matilde, 177
  31. Ida, 176
  32. Lilly/Lily, 172
  33. Linnea/Linea/Linnéa, 163 (tie)
  34. Live, 163 (tie)
  35. Marie, 151
  36. Ellie, 150
  37. Sigrid, 149
  38. Thea, 145
  39. Julie, 143
  40. Amelia, 142 (tie)
  41. Luna, 142 (tie)
  42. Amanda, 141 (tie)
  43. Solveig, 141 (tie)
  44. Tuva, 139
  45. Mie, 133
  46. Agnes, 131
  47. Josefine/Josephine, 129
  48. Hermine, 121 (3-way tie)
  49. Signe, 121 (3-way tie)
  50. Ylva, 121 (3-way tie) – based on the Old Norse word ulfr, meaning “wolf.”

Boy Names

  1. Jakob/Jacob, 414 baby boys (tie)
  2. Noah/Noa, 414 (tie)
  3. Emil, 405 (tie)
  4. Lucas/Lukas, 405 (tie)
  5. Oliver, 382
  6. Isak/Isac/Isaac, 381
  7. William, 348
  8. Filip/Philip/Fillip/Phillip, 343
  9. Aksel/Axel, 321 (tie)
  10. Theodor/Teodor, 321 (tie)
  11. Ludvig/Ludvik, 310
  12. Oskar/Oscar, 300
  13. Liam, 282
  14. Johannes, 280
  15. Elias, 277
  16. Kasper/Casper/Kacper, 276
  17. Magnus, 270 (tie)
  18. Tobias, 270 (tie)
  19. Henrik, 263
  20. Mathias/Matias, 247 (tie)
  21. Olav, 247 (tie)
  22. Viktor/Victor/Wiktor, 235
  23. Ulrik, 230
  24. Matheo, 223
  25. Adam, 215
  26. Gustav, 208
  27. Muhammad/Mohammad/Mohammed/Mohamed/Muhammed, 206
  28. Sander, 205
  29. Alfred, 203
  30. Håkon/Haakon, 201 (tie)
  31. Theo/Teo, 201 (tie)
  32. Herman/Hermann, 185
  33. Benjamin, 179
  34. Jonas, 178
  35. Mikkel, 174
  36. Odin, 165
  37. Birk, 164
  38. Johan, 163 (tie)
  39. Leon, 163 (tie)
  40. Felix, 162
  41. Even, 157 (tie)
  42. Sebastian, 157 (tie)
  43. Vetle, 156 – based on the Old Norse word vetrliði, meaning “winter-farer,” and, by extension, “bear cub” (i.e., a bear that has lived one winter).
  44. Iver, 155
  45. Leo, 150
  46. Jens, 144 (tie)
  47. Markus/Marcus, 144 (tie)
  48. Alexander/Aleksander, 140
  49. Kristian/Christian, 133
  50. Sverre, 132 – based on the Old Norse verb sverra, meaning “to spin or swirl about,” and, by extension, “troublemaker.”

The two fastest-climbing names were Birk, which rose from 70th to 37th on the boys’ list, and Hedvig, which rose from 38th to 23rd on the girls’ list.

Home to more than 5.4 million people, Norway is — at the moment — divided into 11 administrative regions, or “counties.” (The original 19 counties were reduced to 11 in 2020; the current 11 counties will be expanded to 15 in 2024.)

Map of the 11 administrative regions of Norway
Norway’s 11 administrative regions

The top baby names within each of Norway’s 11 counties last year were…

Girl namesBoy names
Viken1. Olivia, 85
2. Leah, 76
3. Ella, 75
4. Emma, 71
5. Ingrid, 67		1. Noah, 102
2. Oliver, 97
3. Jakob, 95
4. Theodor, 88
5. Filip/Lucas/Oskar, 81 each (3-way tie)
Oslo1. Sofia, 63
2. Hedvig, 56
3. Nora, 50
4. Sofie, 48
5. Ada/Anna, 47 each (tie)		1. Mohammad, 77
2. Jakob, 65
3. Olav, 59
4. Noah, 57 (tie)
5. William, 57 (tie)
Vestland1. Ella, 52
2. Nora, 51
3. Emma, 50
4. Sara, 43
5. Sofie, 41		1. Emil, 61
2. Jakob, 53
3. Oliver, 48
4. Ulrik, 47
5. Lucas, 44
Rogaland1. Sara, 37
2. Frida, 36
3. Maja, 32 (3-way tie)
4. Nora, 32 (3-way tie)
5. Sofie, 32 (3-way tie)		1. Emil, 43
2. Noah, 42
3. Filip, 38 (tie)
4. Oliver, 38 (tie)
5. Lucas, 35
Trøndelag1. Selma, 33
2. Ada, 32 (4-way tie)
3. Emma, 32 (4-way tie)
4. Leah, 32 (4-way tie)
5. Nora, 32 (4-way tie)		1. Emil, 50
2. Oliver, 47
3. Aksel, 46 (tie)
4. Isak, 46 (tie)
5. Magnus, 38
Vestfold og Telemark1. Nora, 30
2. Olivia, 28
3. Ella, 23
4. Iben, 21
5. Emma/Sofie, 20 each (tie)		1. Emil, 34 (tie)
2. Noah, 34 (tie)
3. Lucas, 33
4. William, 31
5. Jakob, 29
Innlandet1. Aurora, 25 (tie)
2. Sofie, 25 (tie)
3. Ella, 24
4. Emma/Ingrid/Nora/Olivia, 22 each (4-way tie)		1. Emil, 35
2. Lucas, 31
3. Magnus, 29
4. Filip, 28
5. Oliver, 25
Agder1. Emma, 31 (tie)
2. Olivia, 31 (tie)
3. Nora, 27
4. Ella, 26
5. Leah, 24		1. Lucas, 40
2. Isak, 27 (tie)
3. Theodor, 27 (tie)
4. Henrik, 26 (tie)
5. Noah, 26 (tie)
Møre og Romsdal1. Anna, 18 (tie)
2. Nora, 18 (tie)
3. Olivia, 17 (tie)
4. Selma, 17 (tie)
5. Alma/Aurora/Emma, 16 each (3-way tie)		1. Noah, 26
2. Kasper, 22
3. Emil, 20 (tie)
4. Isak, 20 (tie)
5. Lucas, 19
Troms og Finnmark1. Ella, 18
2. Anna, 16
3. Amalie/Astrid/Emilie/Maja/Olivia/Sigrid, 14 each (6-way tie)		1. Jakob, 27
2. Isak, 25
3. Emil, 23
4. Johannes, 22
5. Elias, 19
Nordland1. Nora, 21
2. Ella, 15 (tie)
3. Iben, 15 (tie)
4. Emma/Frida/Ingrid/Signe, 12 each (4-way tie)		1. Isak, 29
2. Jakob, 24
3. Filip/Henrik/William, 17 each (3-way tie)

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum?

Single-use names were given to nearly 8% of the baby girls and 7% of the baby boys born in Norway last year. We don’t have access to these unique names — the country doesn’t release names given to three or fewer babies per year (due to privacy concerns) — but here’s a selection of the names given to four babies:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Aase, Agathe, Annabelle, Anneli, Anny, Aud, Azra, Bjørg, Borghild, Cassandra, Cecilia, Daria, Eden, Elizabeth, Emely, Felicia, Gabrielle, Grete, Helen, Helin, Henrikke, Irina, Kamila, Kate, Kaya, Leni, Lidia, Marita, Martyna, Nadine, Norunn, Ragne, Ruby, Savannah, Signy, Silvia, Solvår, SylviaAbbas, Abdul, Adem, Ahmet, Ammar, Ansgar, Are, Arvid, Bogdan, Brynjar, Christer, Dani, Denis, Evald, Fred, Haris, Hassan, Hauk, Hubert, Hussain, Idar, Ingmar, Jamal, Jaran, Jarl, Kenan, Mahad, Mattias, Mehdi, Morgan, Niclas, Nikola, Oddvar, Olivier, Ove, Ravn, Roald, Rolf, Rune, Sean, Sigvald, Stanislaw, Steinar, Svein, Søren, Tønnes, Viggo, Wojciech, Yasin, Yosef, Youssef

Finally, here’s a link to Norway’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Navn – Statistics Norway, Sjekk listen over de mest populære navnene i 2022 – Statistics Norway, Uvanlige navn – før og nå – Statistics Norway, Births – Statistics Norway, Regions of Norway – Wikipedia, Counties of Norway – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Nordic Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Norway (public domain)
Map: Nye fylker by Furfur (public domain)

Popular baby names in Denmark, 2022

Flag of Denmark
Flag of Denmark

Denmark is second-most populous Nordic country, after Sweden. (The three smaller Nordic countries are Finland, Norway, and Iceland.)

Last year, Denmark welcomed 58,430 babies. The most popular names among these babies? Ella and William.

Here are Denmark’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Ella, 442 baby girls
  2. Freja, 413
  3. Alma, 409
  4. Frida, 403
  5. Agnes, 389
  6. Luna, 383
  7. Ida, 381
  8. Nora, 378
  9. Olivia, 377
  10. Sofia, 376
  11. Emma, 375
  12. Clara, 361
  13. Asta, 358
  14. Alberte, 337 (tie)
  15. Karla, 337 (tie)
  16. Lily, 321
  17. Ellie, 320
  18. Anna, 315
  19. Ellen, 303
  20. Esther, 292
  21. Astrid, 238
  22. Isabella, 235
  23. Lærke, 234
  24. Josefine, 231
  25. Laura, 226
  26. Mathilde, 220
  27. Emily, 215 (tie)
  28. Mille, 215 (tie)
  29. Merle, 207
  30. Saga, 201
  31. Victoria, 199
  32. Aya, 197 (tie)
  33. Maja, 197 (tie)
  34. Marie, 192
  35. Vera, 191
  36. Leonora, 181
  37. Hannah, 179
  38. Vilma, 176
  39. Andrea, 165
  40. Liva, 160
  41. Liv, 159
  42. Elina, 158
  43. Lea, 156 (tie)
  44. Molly, 156 (tie)
  45. Gry, 153
  46. Eva, 151
  47. Johanne, 149
  48. Ingrid, 146 (tie)
  49. Rosa, 146 (tie)
  50. Emilie, 137

Boy Names

  1. William, 560 baby boys
  2. Karl, 466
  3. Emil, 459
  4. Oscar, 455
  5. Malthe, 452
  6. Noah, 446
  7. Valdemar, 432
  8. Aksel, 428
  9. August, 398 (tie)
  10. Oliver, 398 (tie)
  11. Lucas, 396
  12. Alfred, 391
  13. Theo, 376
  14. Elias, 370
  15. Arthur, 364
  16. Otto, 332
  17. Elliot, 325
  18. Felix, 314
  19. Victor, 299
  20. Magnus, 296
  21. Hugo, 281
  22. Viggo, 277
  23. Matheo, 276
  24. Louie, 268
  25. Liam, 258
  26. Lauge, 257
  27. Anton, 252
  28. Theodor, 246
  29. Anker, 234
  30. Konrad, 233
  31. Nohr, 219
  32. Holger, 214
  33. Frederik, 205
  34. Alexander, 192
  35. Adam, 187
  36. Erik, 186
  37. Storm, 183
  38. Ebbe, 182 (tie)
  39. Luca, 182 (tie)
  40. Vincent, 174
  41. Albert, 173 (tie)
  42. Pelle, 173 (tie)
  43. Milas, 169
  44. Walter, 166
  45. Marius, 164 (tie)
  46. Vilhelm, 164 (tie)
  47. Asger, 161 (tie)
  48. Johan, 161 (tie)
  49. Christian, 159
  50. Villads, 152

The Kingdom of Denmark also includes two autonomous regions: Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

The top baby names in the Faroes in 2022 were Eva and Bartal (which is related to Bartholomew). Here’s more:

Girl names (Faroes)Boy names (Faroes)
1. Eva, 7 baby girls
2. Anna, 5 (4-way tie)
3. Elvira, 5 (4-way tie)
4. Olivia, 5 (4-way tie)
5. Sólja, 5 (4-way tie)
6. Bára, 4 (7-way tie)
7. Bjarta, 4 (7-way tie)
8. Bjørg, 4 (7-way tie)
9. Lilja, 4 (7-way tie)
10. Lív, 4 (7-way tie)
11. Ronja, 4 (7-way tie)
12. Tóra, 4 (7-way tie)		1. Bartal, 7 baby boys
2. Baldur, 5 (7-way tie)
3. Brandur, 5 (7-way tie)
4. Kristian, 5 (7-way tie)
5. Lukas, 5 (7-way tie)
6. Niels, 5 (7-way tie)
7. Nóa, 5 (7-way tie)
8. Rókur, 5 (7-way tie)
9. Gilli, 4 (4-way tie)
10. Mattias, 4 (4-way tie)
11. Ragnar, 4 (4-way tie)
12. Tóki, 4 (4-way tie)

Names used a single time in the Faroes last year include the girl names Døgg (“dew”) and Royða (“tufa“) and the boy names Bogi (“bow”) and Sproti (“sprout”).

Greenland’s top baby names of 2022, on the other hand, are still unknown at this point. Why? Because whoever edited the country’s English-language statistical booklet, Greenland in Figures 2023 [PDF], forgot to update the small section about baby names on page seven. :)

In 2021, the top baby names in Denmark were Alma and Oscar, the top baby names in the Faroes were Lea/Lív and Jónas, and the top baby names in Greenland were Lea/Luna and Aputsiaq/Marco.

Sources: Names of newborn children – Statistics Denmark, Births – Statistics Denmark, Nordic Countries – Wikipedia, Statistical Database (Names) – Hagstova Føroya, Nordic Names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Denmark (public domain)