Holding steady.
Popularity of Oval since 1898
Babies named Oval per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1920, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Oval's real moment was 1910.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 | 0 |
| 1900s | 5 | 5 |
| 1910s | 44 | 164 |
| 1920s | 47 | 186 |
| 1930s | 0 | 74 |
| 1940s | 0 | 60 |
| 1950s | 0 | 11 |
| 1960s | 0 | 0 |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 | 0 |
| 1990s | 0 | 0 |
| 2000s | 0 | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Oval is one of the rarest names in U.S. Social Security records, first appearing in 1909 and reaching its peak year of 1910 with only a handful of registrations. The name derives from the English word for an egg-shaped curve, and its usage has never entered mainstream naming. According to the data, Oval has remained stable in near-zero usage through the latest available year of 2025, with no rank or 1-in-N ratio calculated due to its extreme scarcity. The name is almost entirely associated with boys, with no top states recorded. Its brevity and shape-related meaning make it a curiosity among vintage word names, but it has never achieved the familiarity of other noun-based names like Pearl or Ruby.
Oval is a rare given name taken directly from the English word 'oval', meaning 'having the shape of an egg'. It first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1909, peaking in 1910 with a handful of registrations. The name never gained wide usage and remains an obscure choice, occasionally used as a variant of the more common Ovel or as a modern coinage.
Nicknames & variants
Variants: Ovell
Sibling names for Oval
Names that share Oval's style, for a brother or sister.
