Meaning and background
The story behind Oscar
Oscar has both an important Irish legendary setting and a disputed linguistic background. In Irish tradition Oscar was the son of Oisín and grandson of Fionn mac Cumhaill. One proposed derivation combines words for deer and friend; another connects the name with Old English or Norse forms containing a divine-name element and 'spear'. The two are alternatives, not components of a single translation, and neither should be presented as settled for every Oscar.
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About Oscar
Recorded as a dog’s name
Oscar appears in 174 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/ɔskɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/ɔskɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1AO1 S K ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.