Orville
Masculine · “gold town”
Orville is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 35,065 boys against 155 girls since 1880.
Orville is French in form and American in use, and it belongs to the younger of the two brothers who first flew. It is one of a family of -ville names that English took from French place names.
How old is the name Orville?
Orville was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Orville alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 6,900 people named Orville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Orville most popular?
Orville peaked in 1913, reaching #119 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 6,024 places below that high. See the whole 1913 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Orville
The name arrived in English as a French place-name surname and was used sparingly until the Wright brothers. Orville was the one at the controls for the first of the four flights that December morning on the Outer Banks. The pair of names, Wilbur and Orville, entered American birth records together and rose and fell together, which is unusual: brothers rarely move a naming chart as a pair.
Meaningscholars disagree
gold town
Usually read as a French place name from or, 'gold', and ville, 'town' or 'settlement'. Some accounts derive the first element instead from a personal name rather than the word for gold. The -ville half is not in doubt; the first syllable is.
Pronouncing Orville
OR-vil
Two syllables, stress on the first. The English pronunciation is straightforward and does not follow the French.
Nicknames for Orville
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19181,188 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #119reached in 1913
- Change vs 2022
- +7.7%14 in 2025, from 13
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.
Orville in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Orville in French — same name
Orvilles among us
people named Orville are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Orville
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Orville 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
Orville beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Orville in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ollie is available as a warm, current short form, which softens a name that otherwise reads as formal.
- It is tied to a documented first in human history, and to a person rather than a myth.
- The -ville ending places it clearly among French-derived names without making it hard to say.
- Popcorn is the association for a great many Americans, thanks to a long-running brand.
- The name is strongly period-coded and reads as belonging to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Orville
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Orvilles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,900 people named Orville are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Orville in 2025?
- Orville ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Orville?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Orville — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Orville with classmates?
- Orville will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Orville
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cornell#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Marquan#6143 · Ruel#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Orville? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Orville and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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