I grew up an orphan. My parents both died in a car accident when I was 5. 
Sorry! So pathetic! So who's an orphan?
An orphan is someone whose parents died or permanently abandoned them. 
At what age bracket could one be regarded an orphan?
United States is a minor bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents".
In the common use, an orphan does not have any surviving parent to care for them. However, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), and other groups label any child who has lost one parent as an orphan. In this approach, a "maternal orphan" is a child whose mother
Orphan
An orphan (from the ) is someone whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them.
In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usually relevant (i.e. if the female parent has gone, the offspring is an orphan, regardless of the father's condition).
Definitions.
Various groups use different definitions to identify orphans. One legal definition used in the