Oscar
Germanic in origin, meaning "god's spear," or by an older reading "deer friend." Given only to boys, it climbed through the 2010s and is fading again: a few thousand Poles carry it, so most here have never met one.
Oscar Pronunciation
Oscar is pronounced OS-tsahr (/ˈɔst͡sar/).
What Oscar means
Where Oscar comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Oscar comes from Germanic roots, joining os, meaning god, to gar, a spear. The literal sense is god's spear. A second thread runs through Old Irish, where os meant deer, which gives the reading deer friend, and both senses have followed the name for a long time.
The name traveled north by an odd route. James Macpherson's Ossian poems of the 1760s gave Europe a hero called Oscar, and Napoleon, who admired those poems, chose the name for his godson. That godson grew up to become Oscar I, king of Sweden and Norway from 1844. One choice planted Oscar firmly in Scandinavia, where it stays common. In English it settled just as deeply, carried by writers and by everyday registers alike.
Read down a Polish class list beside Oskar, and the spelling changes while the spear holds. God's spear, or else the friend of deer.
How many people are named Oscar
1 in 5123 men in Poland is named Oscar. 4,167 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #526 among male names.
Oscar's popularity over time
32 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #433 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.
Where parents choose Oscar
Oscar is most popular in Subcarpathian, 88% above the national average (24 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Podlaskie (+72%) and Warmian-Masurian (+58%). It is least common in Opole and Pomeranian, 59% and 55% below average respectively.
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Subcarpathian
+88%1 in 5,024 babies
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Podlaskie
+72%1 in 5,482 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
+58%1 in 5,983 babies
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Opole
−59%1 in 23,048 babies
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Pomeranian
−55%1 in 21,046 babies
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West Pomeranian
−33%1 in 14,071 babies
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Subcarpathian+88% 24 born1 in 5,024 babies+88%
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Podlaskie+72% 12 born1 in 5,482 babies+72%
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Warmian-Masurian+58% 12 born1 in 5,983 babies+58%
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Silesian+58% 38 born1 in 5,989 babies+58%
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Lower Silesian+14% 19 born1 in 8,270 babies+14%
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Holy Cross+2% 6 born1 in 9,239 babies+2%
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Masovian−4% 36 born1 in 9,841 babies−4%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−14% 10 born1 in 10,938 babies−14%
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Łódź−18% 11 born1 in 11,520 babies−18%
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Lubusz−24% 4 born1 in 12,414 babies−24%
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Greater Poland−25% 17 born1 in 12,661 babies−25%
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Lublin−26% 8 born1 in 12,834 babies−26%
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Lesser Poland−29% 17 born1 in 13,348 babies−29%
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West Pomeranian−33% 6 born1 in 14,071 babies−33%
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Pomeranian−55% 7 born1 in 21,046 babies−55%
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Opole−59% 2 born1 in 23,048 babies−59%
Oscar as a middle name
Oscar is a first name for 4,167 men in Poland and a middle name for another 584, an 88/12 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 296th, between Stanislaw (586) and Narcyz (578).
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#294 Hipolit589
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#295 Stanislaw586
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#296 Oscar584
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#297 Narcyz578
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#298 Melchior573