Explore the Family Name Osei

The meaning of Osei

West African (Ghana): from an Akan male personal name of unexplained etymology. It is the third or fourth most common surname in Ghana. Some characteristic forenames: African Kofi, Kwaku, Kwame, Akwasi, Baffour, Kwabena, Yaa.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Osei in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Osei has significantly increased from 2000 to 2010. In the year 2000, it was ranked at 24,271st place among all surnames but jumped to 15,639th by 2010. This shows a remarkable increase in popularity by 35.57%. The count of people with this surname almost doubled within a decade, going up by 92.98% from 968 in 2000 to 1868 in 2010. This is also reflected in the proportion per 100,000 people where the occurrence of the surname rose by 75.0% from 0.36 to 0.63.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,271	#15,639	35.57%
Count	968	1,868	92.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.36	0.63	75%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Osei

In terms of ethnic identity, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the majority of individuals with the surname Osei identify as Black. This group saw a slight increase of 2.11%, rising from 94.63% in 2000 to 96.63% in 2010. Those identifying as White remained relatively stable, decreasing slightly by 2.42%. The percentage of those identifying with two or more ethnicities decreased significantly by 68.00%, falling from 3.00% to 0.96%. The Hispanic group also saw a decrease, with a drop of 18.06%. There were no individuals identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	94.63%	96.63%	2.11%
White	1.65%	1.61%	-2.42%
Two or More Races	3%	0.96%	-68%
Hispanic	0.72%	0.59%	-18.06%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%