Orva
Feminine
Orva is given to both — 508 girls and 105 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Orva is a short, old American name, two open syllables, OR-vuh, given mostly to girls and to a smaller number of boys. It looks like a feminine made from Orval or Orville, and it sits one letter from Orvar, a Swedish name with a saga hero behind it.
How old is the name Orva?
Orva first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Orva alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Orva are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Orva most popular?
Orva peaked in 1895, reaching #1299 nationally. See the whole 1895 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Orva
Our story of Orva goes north for a moment. In Old Norse ör was an arrow, and the hero of one of the legendary Icelandic sagas is Örvar-Oddr, Arrow-Odd, named for the arrows he carried; Swedes later took Orvar from him as a man's name. Orva sits one letter from that name and belongs to a different world, the American one of Orval and Orville, where it was given to daughters and now and then to sons. The saga and the name never met, but they share a sound, two syllables that start low and open out.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No origin has been documented for Orva. It looks like a feminine of Orval or Orville, familiar American men's names of its time, but no record shows the step, and the boys who received it complicate that reading. It is also one letter from the Swedish name Orvar, which is not recorded as its source.
Pronouncing Orva
OR-vuh
Two syllables, stress on the first.
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
- 1890
- Most girls named
- 191923 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1299reached in 1895
- Change vs 1948
- −16.7%5 in 1966, 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.
Orvas among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Orva are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Orva 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
- Short and simple, with one natural pronunciation.
- Recorded for both girls and boys, so it serves either.
- Sounds familiar beside Orval, Orville and Olive without being any of them.
- Most people will not have met it and may hear Ora, Orla or Arva, so it will need spelling out.
- It leans to girls in the record, so a boy named Orva is the rarer case and may be taken for a girl on paper; that is simple to correct.
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Orva
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Orvas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Orva are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Orva in 2025?
- Orva is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Orva with classmates?
- Orva will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More O names
The most-given names starting with O, all years combined.
Olivia#1 · Opal#423 · Olive#197 · Olga#3167 · Ollie#2276 · Ora#3712 · Ola#7885 · Ophelia#264
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Orva? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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