Osama
Masculine · “Lion”
Usāma is the Arabic word for a lion, one of several the language has, and it was an ordinary and rather admired name for centuries. Its American record is unusually stark: it appears through the 1990s, peaks in 1999, and effectively disappears from the data after 2001.
How old is the name Osama?
Osama first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Osama alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 900 people named Osama are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Osama most popular?
Osama peaked in 1999, reaching #1642 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 3,566 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Where it comes from
From usāma to Osama
The story of Osama
Usāma ibn Zayd was a companion of Muhammad, the son of Zayd ibn Haritha, and was given command of an army while still in his late teens; he is remembered warmly in Islamic tradition and the name has been used for him ever since. Usama ibn Munqidh, a twelfth-century Syrian emir, left one of the most vivid memoirs of the Crusader period. The name was ordinary across the Arab world for fourteen centuries. Its American history is much shorter and reads as a single arc: rising with Arab immigration through the 1980s and 1990s, peaking in 1999, then falling to almost nothing after September 2001 — a collapse with little precedent in the American data, where names usually fade over decades rather than in a year.
Meaning
Lion
From Arabic usāma, one of the many words for a lion. The reading is settled and appears in every dictionary of Arabic names. Arabic has a famously large vocabulary for lions — asad, layth, haydar, ghaḍanfar and usāma among them — and all of them have served as names.
How the name formed
- usāma
- Osama
Related forms: أسامة · Usama · Oussama · اسامہ
Pronouncing Osama
oo-SAA-mah
Three syllables, stress on the second. The initial vowel is a short u in Arabic; the common English spelling with an o records how the name was said on American television rather than how Arabic says it.
Nicknames for Osama
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
- 1968
- Most boys named
- 199965 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1642reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%18 in 2025, from 12
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.
Osama in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- أسامة in Arabic — transliteration
- Usama in Arabic — transliteration
- Oussama in French — transliteration
- اسامہ in Urdu — same name
Osamas among us
people named Osama are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Osama
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 Iven test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Osama's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Iven climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Iven's path sketches the road Osama is walking now.
Osama 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
Osama beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Osama 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, short and strong.
- It has fourteen centuries of honorable use and a well-liked companion of the Prophet behind it.
- The three syllables are open and easy for an English speaker to say.
- For anyone who remembers 2001, the name has one association and it overwhelms everything else.
- Bearers have documented harassment, travel difficulties and workplace problems since that year.
- Usama, Osama and Oussama are all in use, and the spelling chosen changes the reading.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Osama to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Osama? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Osama
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Osamas 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 Osama are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Osama in 2025?
- Osama ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Osama?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Osama — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Osama with classmates?
- Osama will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Osama
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Osama? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Osama and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle