Onesimo
Masculine · “Useful”
Onesimo is the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese form of Onesimus, a Greek name meaning useful. Two men called Onesimus changed history: one in a letter of Paul, and one who taught Boston how to fight smallpox.
How old is the name Onesimo?
Onesimo first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Onesimo alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 400 people named Onesimo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Onesimo most popular?
Onesimo peaked in 1932, reaching #2191 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Where it comes from
From Onesimos to Onesimo
The story of Onesimo
In the shortest of Paul's letters he sends Onesimus, an enslaved man, back to his master Philemon and asks that he be received 'no longer as a slave but as a brother', punning that the man once useless to him is now useful indeed. In Boston an enslaved West African man called Onesimus told his owner, the minister Cotton Mather, how people in Africa protected themselves from smallpox by inoculation; in the epidemic of 1721 Mather and a doctor tried it, and far fewer of the inoculated died.
Meaning
'Useful', from Greek Onesimos
Onesimos is Greek for 'useful, profitable'; Onesimo is its Spanish, Italian and Portuguese form.
How the name formed
- Onesimos
- Onesimus
- Onesimo
Related forms: Onesimos · Onesimus · Onésimo
Pronouncing Onesimo
oh-NESS-ee-moh
Four syllables with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Onesimo
Limited
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 198216 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2191reached in 1932
- Change vs 2019
- +16.7%7 in 2023, from 6
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.
Onesimo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Onesimos in Greek — same name
- Onesimus in Latin — same name
- Onésimo in Spanish — same name
Onesimos among us
people named Onesimo are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Onesimo sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A settled meaning and a long history.
- Two documented stories behind it.
- Almost certain to be the only one.
- English speakers may stumble over the stress.
- It will need spelling out.
- It is long for everyday use.
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Onesimo
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Onesimos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Onesimo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Onesimo in 2025?
- Onesimo is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Onesimo with classmates?
- Onesimo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More O names
The most-given names starting with O, all years combined.
Oliver#3 · Owen#31 · Oscar#223 · Omar#260 · Otis#652 · Orlando#871 · Otto#277 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Onesimo? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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