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Boy · Irish, literary
Oscar
Say it: OS-ker
Meaning
Popularized by Macpherson's Ossian poems; the Irish original is uncertain, perhaps os 'deer' and cara 'friend'.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Spread across Europe through the Ossian poems and Napoleon's godson, Oscar I.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 205,535 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1882, about 1 in 182 boys
- 1,746 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
| Swedish | Oskar |
|---|---|
| German | Oskar |
Famous bearers
- Oscar Wilde, writer
- King Oscar I of Sweden
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Well-known works of literature
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.