Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname O'Shea

    An Irish surname, carried by 10,531 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /oʊˈʃeɪ/ 2 syllables Soundex O200

    O'Shea: #3,395 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon O'Shea #3,395, 10,531 people O'Shea: #3,395 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez O'Shea #3,395, 10,531 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). O'Shea is more common than 97.9% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    Anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Séaghdha.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 10,531 people named O'Shea in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 29,318 Americans. That is up 4.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 10,066.

    #3,395
    rank among US surnames
    10,531
    people in 2010
    3.6
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.6%
    change since 2000 (was #3,258)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #3,386Schrock10,54929,268
    #3,387Iglesias10,54629,276
    #3,389Bayer10,54429,282
    #3,390Sager10,54129,290
    #3,391Kinder10,53929,296
    #3,392Koontz10,53829,298
    #3,394Villatoro10,53529,307

    Who is named O'Shea

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    95% of people named O'Shea identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 95%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
    • Two or more races 0.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.6%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous O'Sheas

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Michael O'Shea
      American actor (1906–1973)
    • Daniel O'Shea
      American pair skater, born 1991

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like O'Shea

    O'Shea has the Soundex code O200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code O200.

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname O'Shea come from?
    Anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Séaghdha.
    How common is the surname O'Shea?
    10,531 people in the United States had the surname O'Shea in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 29,318 Americans. It ranked 3,395th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname O'Shea?
    In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named O'Shea identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named O'Shea?
    Michael O'Shea, American actor (1906–1973), followed by Daniel O'Shea.
    Where is the surname O'Shea most common?
    Wikidata records people named O'Shea in the United States.
    How do you pronounce O'Shea?
    O'Shea is /oʊˈʃeɪ/, 2 syllables.
    Is the surname O'Shea getting more or less common?
    More common. 10,066 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 10,531 in 2010, up 4.6%.