Obinna
Masculine · “Father's heart”
Obinna is an Igbo statement about the heart: obi is the heart, nna is the father, and the name says the father's heart. It is given to a son who is his father's affection, and it is entirely transparent to any Igbo speaker.
How old is the name Obinna?
Obinna first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Obinna alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 900 people named Obinna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Obinna most popular?
Obinna peaked in 1984, reaching #2706 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 2,902 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Obinna
Igbo names are propositions, and the ones built on obi are a large family: Obiora, the heart of the people; Obiageli, one born to enjoy; Obinna, the father's heart. They state something about the child's place in the family rather than describing the child. Nnamdi, my father is alive, belongs to the same set. Obinna is ordinary across Igboland and among the diaspora. American records show it from the 1970s with Nigerian immigration and a peak in 1984, and the name has stayed in low steady use since.
Meaning
Father's heart
From Igbo obi, heart, and nna, father. The reading is settled and transparent. Obi carries more than the English heart does — it means the seat of feeling, and also the head of a family's compound, so the name has a resonance that a literal translation flattens. Igbo is tonal and the tones are part of the name.
Pronouncing Obinna
oh-BEE-nah
Three syllables, all open, stress in the middle. Igbo is tonal and the tones carry meaning that English letters cannot represent.
Nicknames for Obinna
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 200632 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2706reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- +77.8%16 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Obinna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Obinna in Igbo — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Obinnas among us
people named Obinna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Obinna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Reiner test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Obinna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Reiner climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Reiner's path sketches the road Obinna is walking now.
Obinna sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Obinna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Obinna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, moving and easy to explain in three words.
- Obi is a ready-made short form and a complete name of its own.
- Every sound in it exists in English.
- Igbo tone is part of the name and cannot be written in English letters.
- It is unmistakably Igbo and will prompt questions about origin.
- The doubled n is a real length in Igbo and is lost in English.
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What they receive
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Obinna
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Obinnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Obinna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Obinna in 2025?
- Obinna ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Obinna?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Obinna — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Obinna with classmates?
- Obinna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Obinna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Obinna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Obinna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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