Oscar

How many boys were given this name in 2009?

Oscar: 313
Oskar: 238

Meaning

Oscar is a literary name that arrived in Denmark about 1880 via the so-called Ossian poems that had been claimed to be ancient Celtic lays but had in fact been composed by the Scot James Macpherson in the 1760s. Macpherson may have compounded the name from two words, either the Irish words for 'deer' and 'friend' or the Nordic words ás 'heathen god' and geir 'spear'.

Popularity

The name first became really popular at the end of the 1990s and its popularity has not yet culminated.

Well-known bearers of the name

Oscar is a name borne by Swedish kings. Oscar Wilde, the Irish author who died in 1900, received his name because his father was physician-in-ordinary to the Swedish king.