unisex name
Ocean
OH-shun
- Origin Greek
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 12,553
the United States
#717
2025 births
Ocean is a unisex name taken from the English word, which comes through Latin from the Greek Okeanos — a Titan who was the great river the Greeks believed encircled the whole world, rather than a word for the sea itself.
- Ocean is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2022, when 855 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,605 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1971.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Ocean over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1970s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 28 |
| 1980s | 19 |
| 1990s | 585 |
| 2000s | 1,356 |
| 2010s | 1,870 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,375 |
What Ocean means
Ocean names the sea, but the word began as a proper name. Okeanos was a god and a river, and the Greeks had a separate ordinary word, thalassa, for the sea you could actually sail on.
Where Ocean comes from
Ocean comes through the Old French occean and the Latin oceanus from the Greek Okeanos, a Titan and the son of Uranus and Gaia. To the early Greeks Okeanos was the fresh-water river running around the rim of the flat earth, from which all other rivers flowed; the Mediterranean was thalassa, a different word entirely. As Greek geography widened, the name transferred to the outer sea beyond Gibraltar and then to the world's oceans. As a given name it is modern, appearing in our records from 1971, and it belongs with the nature names that rose from the 1970s onward.
Ocean in use
Ocean charts in six of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2022.
How popular is Ocean?
In 2025, Ocean was given to 720 babies in the United States, ranking #717 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Ocean is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Ocean is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Océan | Océan is a rare spelling of Ocean, written with an acute accent and recorded about 105 times, mostly in France. | 105 |
Names that peaked alongside Ocean
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Ocean also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Ocean over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Ocean in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Ocean
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Ocean — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Ocean
What does the name Ocean mean?
The sea, from the Greek Okeanos — originally the name of a Titan and of the river believed to encircle the world.
Is Ocean a boy's or a girl's name?
Both, and used fairly evenly.
Did the Greeks call the sea Okeanos?
No. The everyday word was thalassa. Okeanos was the outer world-river, and only later transferred to the great oceans.
How popular is the name Ocean?
In 2025, Ocean was given to 720 babies in the United States, ranking #717 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
How many syllables are in Ocean?
Ocean has 2 syllables.
When was Ocean most popular?
Ocean peaked in 2022, when 855 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Ocean a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Ocean currently ranks #307 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.