Oswald () is a masculine given name, from Old English Osƿeald, from os "god" and ƿeald "rule". The Old High German cognate was Answald, the Old Norse form was Ásvaldr.
Oswald of Northumbria (c. 604–641/2) was a king of Northumbria and is venerated as saint. The name fell out of use in the later medieval period, although it appears to have been rarely given in reference to the saint even in the late 14th century, as evidenced by the name of German poet and diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376/7–1445). The name was revived in the 19th century, but it was never frequently given.
Its popularity in the United States peaked in 1886 at rank 451, and it fell below rank 1,000 in the mid-1930s.
By contrast, the Hispanic form Osvaldo became popular in the United States by the 1970s, peaking at rank 410 in 2004.
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People with the given name include
Oswald of Glenluce (died after 1417), Cistercian monk and bishop
Oswald of Sussex, Anglo-Saxon Ealdorman
Oswald of Worcester (died 992), Archbishop of York and saint
Oswald de Andrade (1890–1954), Brazilian writer and poet
Oswald Achenbach (1827–1905), German landscape painter
Oswald Thompson Allis (1880–1973), American Presbyterian theologian and Bible scholar
Oswald Avery (1877–1955), Canadian-American physician, medical researcher and molecular biologist
Oswald Balzer (1858–1933), Polish historian
Oswald Barrett (1892–1945), English artist and illustrator
Oswald Berkhan (1834–1917), German physician
Oswald Birley (1880–1952), English painter
Oswald Boelcke (1891–1916), German flying ace of the First World War
Oswald Bosanquet (1866–1933), British administrator in India
Oswald Bosko (died 1944), Austrian policeman and a Righteous Among the Nations
Oswald Walters Brierly (1817–1894), English painter
Oswald Bumke (1877–1950), German psychiatrist and neurologist
Oswald Carver (1887–1915), British rower
Oswald Chambers (1874–1917), Scottish Protestant Christian minister and teacher
Oswald Cockayne (1807–1873), English churchman and philologist
Oswald Couldrey (1882–1958), British artist, poet and author
Oswald d'Andréa (1934–2024), French pianist and composer
Oswald Leslie De Kretser II (1882–1959), Puisne Justice of Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
Oswald Denison (1905–1990), New Zealand rower
Oswald Durand (1840–1906), Haitian poet and politician
Oswald Herbert Ernst (1842–1926), American engineer, military educator, and career officer
Oswald Feliz (born 1990), American politician and attorney
Oswald Freisler (1895–1939), German lawyer
Oswald Garrison Villard (1872–1949), American journalist
Oswald Gomis (1932–2023), 10th Archbishop of Colombo
Oswald Gracias (born 1944), Goan Catholic clergyman, Archbishop of Bombay
Oswald Grübel (born 1943), German banker
Oswald Hafenrichter (1899–1973), Austrian-British film editor
Oswald Haselrieder (born 1971), Italian luger
Oswald Heer (1809–1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist
Oswald Hickson (1877–1944), English lawyer
Oswald Hoffmann (1913–2005), American clergyman and broadcaster
Oswald Homeky, Beninese politician
Oswald Inglin (born 1953), Swiss politician and historian
Oswald Jacoby (1902–1984), American bridge player
Oswald H. Johnson (1912–1993), American politician
Oswald Kabasta (1896–1946), Austrian conductor
Oswald Kaduk (1906–1997), German Rapportführer at the Auschwitz concentration camp
Oswald Karch (1917–2009), German Formula One driver
Oswald Leroy (1936–2022), Belgian mathematician
Oswald Lewis (disambiguation), multiple people
Oswald Lohse (1845–1915), German astronomer
Oswald Lorenz (1806–1889), German musicologist and composer
Ossie Mazengarb (1890–1963), New Zealand magistrate with a full name of Oswald Chettle Mazengarb
Oswald Menghin (1888–1973), Austrian prehistorian
Oswald Milne (1881–1968), British architect
Oswald Mosley (1896–1980), English fascist and politician, founder of the British Union of Fascists
Sir Oswald Mosley (disambiguation), several people
Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali (born 1940), South African poet
Oswald Myconius (1488–1552), Swiss theologian and follower of Huldrych Zwingli
Oswald Norris (1883–1973), English cricketer and soldier
Oswald Ottendorfer (1826–1900), American journalist
Oswald Peraza (born 2000), Venezuelan baseball player
Oswald Pilloud (1873–1946), Swiss artist
Oswald Pirow (1890–1959), South African far-right politician
Oswald Poche (1908–1962), German chief of the Gestapo
Oswald Pohl (1892–1951), German Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
Oswald Rayner (1888–1961), British MI6 field agent
Oswald Rishbeth (1886–1946), Australian geographer
Oswald Hope Robertson (1886–1966), American physician
Oswald Rufeisen (1922–1998), Polish-Jewish Carmelite friar and partisan during World War II
Oswald Schmiedeberg (1838–1921), Baltic German pharmacologist
Oswald Short (1883–1969), English aeronautical engineer
Oswald Sickert (1828–1885), Danish artist
Oswald Sigg (born 1944), Swiss journalist
Oswald Silberrad (1878–1960), British chemist
Oswald Spengler (1880–1936), German historian and philosopher
Oswald Stoll (1866–1942), Australian-British theater manager
Oswald Szemerényi (1913–1996), Hungarian linguist
Oswald Teichmüller (1913–1943), German mathematician
Oswald Tesimond (1563–1636), English Jesuit part of the Gunpowder Plot
Oswald Tippo (1911–1999), American botanist and educator
Oswald Tschirtner (1920–2007), Austrian artist
Oswald Mathias Ungers (1926–2007), German architect
Oswald Veblen (1880–1960), American mathematician
Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376/7–1445), a composer
Oswald Wardell-Yerburgh (1858–1913), Church of England clergyman
Oswald Werner (1928–2023), Slovak-American linguist
Oswald West (1873–1960), American politician, 14th Governor of Oregon
Oswald Wirth (1860–1943), Swiss occultist
Oswald Wynd (1913–1998), Scottish writer
Oswald Yorke (1866–1943), British actor
Oswald Zimmermann (1859–1910), German antisemitic politician and journalist
Fictional characters
Oswald Alving, a character in Ibsen's play Ghosts
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney
Penguin (Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot), fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics
Oswald Lee Harvey, a character appearing on the American television show, The Drew Carey Show
Oswald Mosley, a character from British period crime drama television series, Peaky Blinders
Oswald, a blue octopus who is the titular character of the American-British animated children's television series, Oswald.
Oswald Danes, a fictional character in the BBC television program, Torchwood
Oswald McGillicutty, a fictional character from the Saw franchise