Oskar
The name carries an old double sense: "god's spear" in one reading, "deer friend" in another. It sits around 140th today and goes only to boys, familiar enough to ring a bell without turning up in every classroom.
Oskar Pronunciation
Oskar is pronounced OS-kahr (/ˈɔskar/).
What Oskar means
Where Oskar comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Oskar reaches Polish from Slavic roots, and this site sets its origin there rather than in the northern lands the name later crossed. Two readings travel with it. One takes Oskar as "deer friend", the other as "god's spear", and neither is a single settled root. Both were fastened to the name across long use rather than born with it.
The Polish calendar gives Oskar his name-day on the third of February. It honors Saint Oskar, born around 801 near the abbey at Corbie, who set out for Denmark in 827 to preach. Read a first-grade class register on that morning, and an Oskar will usually answer.
The name has stayed common among Polish boys. Of its two old senses, "god's spear" is the one still repeated.
When Oskar celebrates name day
Oskar appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 3 February.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
How many people are named Oskar
1 in 270 men in Poland is named Oskar. 79,062 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #141 among male names.
Oskar's popularity over time
1,825 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #45 among newborns. It has been stable for a decade.
Where parents choose Oskar
Oskar is most popular in Subcarpathian, 19% above the national average (914 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Łódź (+18%) and Holy Cross (+13%). It is least common in Pomeranian and Greater Poland, 25% and 10% below average respectively.
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Subcarpathian
+19%1 in 132 babies
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Łódź
+18%1 in 133 babies
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Holy Cross
+13%1 in 139 babies
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Pomeranian
−25%1 in 210 babies
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Greater Poland
−10%1 in 175 babies
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West Pomeranian
−10%1 in 173 babies
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Subcarpathian+19% 914 born1 in 132 babies+19%
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Łódź+18% 953 born1 in 133 babies+18%
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Holy Cross+13% 400 born1 in 139 babies+13%
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Lublin+11% 731 born1 in 140 babies+11%
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Warmian-Masurian+10% 506 born1 in 142 babies+10%
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Opole+9% 321 born1 in 144 babies+9%
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Podlaskie+9% 460 born1 in 143 babies+9%
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Silesian+7% 1,551 born1 in 147 babies+7%
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Lubusz+5% 333 born1 in 149 babies+5%
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Lesser Poland+2% 1,474 born1 in 154 babies+2%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian+1% 708 born1 in 154 babies+1%
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Masovian−7% 2,107 born1 in 168 babies−7%
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Lower Silesian−8% 923 born1 in 170 babies−8%
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Greater Poland−10% 1,232 born1 in 175 babies−10%
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West Pomeranian−10% 487 born1 in 173 babies−10%
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Pomeranian−25% 701 born1 in 210 babies−25%
Oskar as a middle name
Oskar is a first name for 79,062 men in Poland and a middle name for another 13,343, an 86/14 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 96th, between Lech (13,771) and Lucjan (13,321).
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#94 Edmund14,569
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#95 Lech13,771
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#96 Oskar13,343
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#97 Lucjan13,321
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#98 Emil12,312