Meaning of the nameOscar

Oscar is a male name of uncertain origin, linked to Old Irish, possibly 'deer friend', or to the Old English name Osgar.

Meaning

“possibly 'deer friend' (Old Irish) or 'spear of the gods' (Old English)”

Source: Behind the Name: Oscar · Wiktionary: Oscar (English)

More names that mean animals

People (2022): 31,552
Rank in Brazil: #786
Median age: 55.5 years
2010 Census: 37,767; people

Oscar in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Oscar, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1950s (6,136 people).

110 women 31,442 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Oscar is most common

States with the highest share of people named Oscar in the population, in the 2022 Census.

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	8,278	0.019%
Rio Grande do Sul	3,318	0.031%
Paraná	2,686	0.024%
Minas Gerais	2,566	0.013%
Santa Catarina	1,850	0.024%
Rio de Janeiro	1,695	0.011%
Bahia	1,568	0.011%
Pará	1,206	0.015%
Pernambuco	928	0.010%
Goiás	851	0.012%
Mato Grosso do Sul	832	0.030%
Amazonas	704	0.018%
Ceará	666	0.008%
Mato Grosso	633	0.017%
Maranhão	548	0.008%
Piauí	442	0.014%
Espírito Santo	421	0.011%
Paraíba	376	0.010%
Distrito Federal	320	0.011%
Rio Grande do Norte	281	0.009%
Roraima	276	0.043%
Alagoas	259	0.008%
Rondônia	251	0.016%
Tocantins	197	0.013%
Sergipe	182	0.008%
Acre	110	0.013%
Amapá	108	0.015%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Oscar

Behind the Name gives the possible sense 'deer friend', from oss, 'deer', and carae, 'friend', in Old Irish, and says the name may also come from Old English Osgar or Old Norse Ásgeirr. Wiktionary says the exact origin is uncertain and that the modern name combines a Middle Irish name, roughly meaning 'deer friend', and an Old English one, 'spear of the gods', related to Oswald. In Irish legend, Oscar is the son of the poet Oisín, and the name spread across Europe with the Ossian poems published by James Macpherson in the eighteenth century. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 31,552 people named Oscar, with a median age of 55.5; proportionally, it is most common in Roraima.

Sources

Behind the Name: Oscar · behindthename.com · meaning
Wiktionary: Oscar (English) · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
Wiktionary: Oscar (Portuguese) · en.wiktionary.org · spelling
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Oscar · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · usage

Questions about the name Oscar

What does the name Oscar mean?

Oscar means “possibly 'deer friend' (Old Irish) or 'spear of the gods' (Old English)”, according to Behind the Name and Wiktionary.

How many people are named Oscar in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 31,552 people with the first name Oscar, which ranks it number 786 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1950s.

Is Oscar a boy's or a girl's name?

Oscar is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 110 women and 31,442 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Oscar?

Oscar is a name of Celtic and Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Oscar most common?

Proportionally, in Roraima: 0.043% of the state's population is named Oscar (276 people), according to the 2022 Census.

Names that also mean animals

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More names of Celtic origin

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Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Oscar with a source. See the methodology.