Ocean
Ocean was the 720th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 375 babies. Its best year was 2024, when it ranked 592nd with 485 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 1,101 places. More babies were named Ocean in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Meaning ocean (English word) · English, Greek, Latin
Say it OH-shun /ˈoʊʃən/
- Rank in 2025
- #720 boys, up 75 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 375boys
- Girls and boys
- 44% girls, 56% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 2024485 babies
- Total since 1880
- 8,233babies recorded
What does the name Ocean mean?
Ocean is a modern word name for the sea. Wiktionary says the girls' name was inspired by the fashionable French name Océane. The American Heritage Dictionary traces ocean through Middle English and Old French to Latin oceanus and Greek Ōkeanos, the god Oceanus, imagined as a great river encircling the earth. In the US Ocean has been used since the early 1970s, for girls and boys.
Ὠκεανός (Ancient Greek, “Oceanus, the world-encircling river”)ōceanus (Latin, “ocean”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Related names: Océane, Oceana, Marina.
See also: English names, names that mean water.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Ocean' (English section), Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., entry 'ocean' (etymology), HarperCollins / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (yob*.txt), team3 computation of first year recorded, US Social Security Administration (public domain)
Ocean popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #787 | #720 | 345 | 375 |
| 2020 | #1,130 | #795 | 213 | 292 |
| 2010 | #3,001 | #1,826 | 57 | 80 |
| 2000 | #3,056 | #3,131 | 46 | 28 |
| 1990 | #5,756 | #7,833 | 16 | 6 |
| 1980 | — | — | — | — |
| 1970 | — | — | — | — |
| 1960 | — | — | — | — |
| 1950 | — | — | — | — |
| 1940 | — | — | — | — |
| 1930 | — | — | — | — |
| 1920 | — | — | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — | — | — |
How popular is Ocean, counting every spelling?
Ocean is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #700 for boys in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #720 for Ocean on its own. Together these spellings went to 375 boys in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean | 375 | #720 | 2,167 |
| Osean | — | — | 33 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Ocean?
375 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Ocean (0.10 per 1,000 births). For a boy named Ocean born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 22 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Ocean.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Ocean?
About 4,400 people born in the US named Ocean are alive today, with a median age of 6; half are between 3 and 14. That makes Ocean a young name: most people with it are children.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Ocean by state
How common Ocean was among boys born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Hawaii (9.8×), Nevada (2.1×), Florida (2.1×), New York (1.8×), Oregon (1.6×). In 18 states fewer than five boys a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Ocean: their share of US boys followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Ocean, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Ocean · Sibling names for Ocean
Questions about the name Ocean
What does Ocean mean?
Ocean means “ocean (English word)” (English, Greek, Latin origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Ocean?
Ocean was the 720th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 375 babies. Its best year was 2024, when it ranked 592nd with 485 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved up 1,101 places. More babies were named Ocean in the 2020s than in any other decade.
Is Ocean a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 44% girls, 56% boys given the name Ocean in the US.
Where is Ocean most popular?
In 2021–2025, Ocean was most common in Hawaii (2.45 per 1,000 boys), followed by Nevada and Florida.