Oscar

Where Oscar comes from

Exact origin uncertain. Resuscitated by James Mcpherson in The Works of Ossian (1765). Napoleon, an admirer of the Ossianic poems, chose it for his godson Oscar Bernadotte, who became a king of Sweden. The modern given name is a conflation of two unrelated names: first, Middle Irish Oscar (the name of Fionn Mac Cumhaill's grandson in Irish mythology), from Middle Irish os (“deer”) + cara (“friend”); and second, Old English Ōscār, Ōsgār (personal name, literally “spear of the gods/spear of God”), from Old English ōs (“god”) and gār (“spear”) (see Oswald). Compare German Ansgar (personal name), Danish Asker, Asger (personal name), Norwegian Asgeir (personal name), Icelandic Ásgeir (personal name). (Academy Award): Disputed. Said to have been named by actress Bette Davis after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, or by secretary Margaret Herrick after her cousin Oscar Pierce.
— Wiktionary's entry for Oscar
  • Irish
  • Old English
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1854
    Oscar Wilde born
    Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #29 among boys — 544 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1886
    Peak, #26
    645 babies named Oscar — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1907
    Oscar Niemeyer born
    Brazilian architect
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Irish or Old English.
Namesakes
  • Oscar Wilde · Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete, 1854–1900
  • Oscar Niemeyer · Brazilian architect, 1907–2012
  • Oscar Pistorius · South African sprinter and convicted murderer, born 1986
  • Oscar Luigi Scalfaro · 9th President of Italy, 1918–2012
  • Oscar II of Sweden · King of Sweden from 1872 to 1907 and Norway from 1872 to 1905, 1829–1907

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.