boy's name
Oisin
USH-een
- Origin Irish
- Gender Boy
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 16,251
Ireland
#5
as Oisín, 2025
Oisin is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "little deer" or "fawn," from the Irish os, a deer. In Irish mythology Oisín is the poet son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, and the name ranked fifth in Ireland in 2025 with 331 births.
- Oisin is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2008, when 454 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 2,639 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1964.
Oisin over time
Births per decade in Ireland, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 29 |
| 1970s | 178 |
| 1980s | 381 |
| 1990s | 1,303 |
| 2000s | 3,663 |
| 2010s | 3,794 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,994 |
What Oisin means
Oisin means little deer, or fawn. It is os, the Irish word for a deer or stag, with the diminutive ending -ín, and the deer sense is not incidental — the mythological Oisín is the son of a woman who had been enchanted into the form of a doe.
Where Oisin comes from
Oisín is formed from the Old Irish oss, a deer, plus the diminutive -ín that Irish uses to make affectionate and reduced forms. The name belongs above all to Oisín of the Fianna, the warrior-poet son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and, in the tale, of Sadhbh, who had been turned into a deer by a druid she refused. Oisín is the narrator of much of the Fenian cycle and the traveler to Tír na nÓg, the land of the young, from which he returns to find three hundred years have passed. The eighteenth-century Scottish writer James Macpherson recast him as Ossian in a set of poems he presented as ancient translations, which carried the figure across Europe and made him a touchstone of Romanticism — Napoleon and Goethe were both admirers — before the texts were shown to be largely Macpherson's own work.
Oisin in use
Oisín ranked fifth in Ireland in 2025 with 331 births, and our Irish series carries the name from 1964 onward, so it is a settled fixture rather than a recent arrival. Within Ireland the fada is close to universal: the unaccented Oisin ranks 265th in the same year with 17 births. Outside Ireland the position reverses entirely, because it is the unaccented spelling that appears in the British and American records — Oisin reaches ninth in Northern Ireland and 518th in England and Wales, while the accented Oisín appears in no series but Ireland's.
How popular is Oisin?
In 2025, Oisin was given to 17 babies in Ireland, ranking #265 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Oisin is used
Irish figures withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. The Central Statistics Office began recording the síneadh fada in 2018, so accented and unaccented spellings are counted separately from that year on. Data & sources.
How Oisin is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Oisín | Oisín is Oisin written with a fada in Ireland, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #5 in Ireland, against #265 for Oisin. | 2,479 |
| Óisín | Óisín is a rare spelling of Oisin, written with a fada and recorded 22 times, mostly in Ireland. | 22 |
| Oísin | Oísin is a rare spelling of Oisin, written with a fada and recorded 7 times, mostly in Ireland. | 7 |
| Oisìn | Oisìn is a rare spelling of Oisin, written with a grave accent and recorded 3 times, mostly in Ireland. | 3 |
| Óisin | Óisin is a rare spelling of Oisin, written with a fada and recorded 3 times, mostly in Ireland. | 3 |
Names that peaked alongside Oisin
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Oisin also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Oisin over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Oisin
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Oisin 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 Oisin
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Oisin — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Oisin
What does the name Oisín mean?
Oisín means "little deer" or "fawn," from the Irish os, a deer, with a diminutive ending.
How do you pronounce Oisín?
USH-een, two syllables, with the stress on the first.
Who was Oisín in Irish mythology?
The poet son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, who traveled to Tír na nÓg and returned to find three centuries had passed.
Is Ossian the same name as Oisín?
Ossian is James Macpherson's eighteenth-century Scottish spelling of the same figure, which spread across Europe in the Romantic period.
How popular is the name Oisin?
In 2025, Oisin was given to 17 babies in Ireland, ranking #265 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Is Oisin a girl's or a boy's name?
Oisin is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
When was Oisin most popular?
Oisin peaked in 2008, when 454 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Oisin?
Oisin is usually shortened to Ossie.
Is Oisin a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Oisin currently ranks #5 in Ireland. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.