How Many People Are Named Oswald?
An estimated 1,948 people in the United States have the first name Oswald. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 41 years old, and Oswald peaked in popularity in 1916 with 107 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Oswald as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Oswald paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
1,948
About 1 in 175,952 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
100.0% confidence
Average Age
41
years old
Peak Year
1916
107 births
Total Registered
4,339
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Oswald
Oswald is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 4,339 total births registered, 100.0% were male.
Oswald as a male name
Ranked #2,121 in 2024
70 male births in 2024
Peak: 1916 (107 births)
Oswald: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Oswald span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1920s, when 763 babies were registered. While Oswald is less common than at its peak in the 1920s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Oswald by Decade
How has Oswald tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Oswald by State
Birth registrations for Oswald span all 18 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, California, Texas. The lowest are in Missouri, New Jersey, Illinois. On average, about 58 Oswalds were registered per state.
Oswald + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Oswald as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Oswald
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
Oswald: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Oswald?
We estimate approximately 1,948 people named Oswald are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 175,952 Americans share this first name.
Is Oswald a common name?
Oswald is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 93.6% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 4,339 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Oswald most popular?
Oswald reached peak popularity in 1916, when 107 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Oswald is approximately 41 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Oswald a male name?
Oswald is predominantly male. 100.0% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Oswald Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Oswald Smith, Oswald Johnson, Oswald Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
Search for a full name combination
How Many of Me