How Many People Are Named Orson?
people named Orson are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 174,469 people in the US has this name
Based on 2,714 babies named Orson in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎💎 Very Rare
Peak Year
132 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
From an English surname which was originally a nickname meaning "bear cub", from a diminutive of Norman French ors "bear", ultimately from Latin ursus. American actor and director Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a famous bearer of this name.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
All of the babies given the name Orson in the records were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Orson alive today is about 21 years old, and 74% are under 30. Half of them were between 3 and 34 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Orson first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 2023, to 132 babies. In 2025, 126 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Orson has never been one of the 100 most popular boys' names. Its best rank was #549, in 1883. In 2025 it ranked #1,433.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,433 |
| Best rank | #549 (1883) |
| Years in the top 100 | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #1,512 in the 2020s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Orson alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Orson were born in California than in any other state: about 146 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Orson was given 12.7 times as often in Utah, 3 times in New York and 1.9 times in California.
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