Orpheus

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 9 languages in the etymology graph.

Often considered alongside

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Orpheus, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Eurydice
• Hades
• Apollo
• Perseus
• Persephone
• Nyx
• Achilles
• Helios
• Ajax
• Nestor
• Ares
• Pandora

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Orpheus is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Orpheús

• Greek given name5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Also written Orfeas, Ορφεας, Ορφέας, Orpheas

• French given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France

  Also written Orphéus

31 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Orpheus is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, mythogical Greek musician; pers.

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Orpheus Evertsb. 1826USAmerican physician (1826–1903)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Orpheus mean, and where does it come from?

A Thracian musician and poet, who failed to retrieve his wife Eurydice from Hades. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).

How do you pronounce Orpheus?

A machine transcription gives /ɔɹfiəs/ (IPA) for English.

Is Orpheus a male or female name?

Orpheus is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

In which country does Orpheus have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 125 people named Orpheus, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled orpheus.

Where is Orpheus most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Orpheus is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 375 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is the name Orpheus?

In the United States, the national register counted 125 people named Orpheus in 2020, about 1 in 2.7 million residents.