Oskar
Masculine · “god's spear”
Oskar is the Scandinavian spelling of Oscar, and the name has two possible fathers — a Norse god-spear compound, or an Irish name meaning deer-lover that a forger put into circulation.
How old is the name Oskar?
Oskar first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Oskar is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,200 people named Oskar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Oskar most popular?
Oskar peaked in 2016, reaching #1183 nationally. Today it ranks #1743, 560 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Oskar appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Ásgeirr to Oskar
The story of Oskar
Macpherson's Ossian took Europe by storm and Napoleon admired it enough that his godson, later Oscar I of Sweden, was named for a character in it. Two Swedish kings followed. Oskar is the standard German, Polish and Scandinavian spelling. Emigration brought it to America, where it appears in the registers in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
god's spear; deer-lover
Two routes. From the Old Norse Ásgeirr — áss, 'god', and geirr, 'spear'. Or from the Irish Oscar, os, 'deer', and cara, 'friend'. James Macpherson's Ossian poems of the 1760s, largely his own invention, popularized the Irish form across Europe. Both are documented.
How the name formed
- Ásgeirr
- Oscar
- Oskar
Related forms: Oskar · Oskar · Oskar · Oscar
Pronouncing Oskar
OS-kar
Two syllables, stress on the first. Swedish and German say it the same way with a fuller final vowel.
Nicknames for Oskar
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 2016160 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1183reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −3.1%93 in 2025, from 96
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.
Oskar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Oskar in Swedish — same name
- Oskar in German — same name
- Oskar in Polish — same name
- Oscar in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Minnesota, New York.
Oskars among us
people named Oskar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,366 born in 2025 was named Oskar
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Oskar
- #1743
- Oskar on the 2025 chart
- #210
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Oskar went to 93 boys in 2025, but Oscar is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,713, which makes it the 210th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,533 places above the chart.
- Oscar1,620
- Oskar93
About 1 boy in 997 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 18,366 for Oskar itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Neill test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Oskar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Neill climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Neill's path sketches the road Oskar is walking now.
Oskar 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
Where Oskar is headed
Oskar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Oskar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Oskar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both possible origins are vivid — a god's spear or a friend of deer.
- Two Swedish kings carry it, by way of a literary forgery Napoleon liked.
- It is standard across Swedish, German and Polish naming.
- The origin is genuinely split between Norse and Irish.
- Oscar is the standard English spelling and will be assumed.
- The film award is a strong association.
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Oskar
Masculine · #1743 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Oskars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,200 people named Oskar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Oskar?
- Oskar is one of 2 recorded spellings. Oscar is the more common one — 1,620 births in 2025 against 93 for Oskar.
- How popular is the name Oskar in 2025?
- Oskar ranks #1743 among US boy names in 2025, with 93 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Oskar?
- About 1 in every 18,366 US boys born in 2025 was named Oskar — 93 in all.
- Will my child share the name Oskar with classmates?
- Oskar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Oskar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Oskar? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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