Odel
An uncommon name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 33 living Americans carry the first name Odel. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Odel today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Odel births was 1925 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Odel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Odel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
33
~ 1 in 10,386,495 Americans
Peak year
1925
14 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2016 SSA rank
#9,445
Tracked since 1914
Census
Odel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 348 people with the first name Odel, which placed it at #26,649 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#26,649
National first-name rank
People counted
348
348 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
39.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Odel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odel is Black at 39.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.5%) and White (20.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Odel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Odel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American39.9% · 139
- Hispanic or Latino34.5% · 120
- White20.7% · 72
- Two or more races2.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Odel
Odel leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Odel as a male name
- Ranked #9,445 in 2016
- 8 male births in 2016
- Peak: 1925 (14 births)
Odel as a female name
- Ranked #18,572 in 2013
- 5 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2013 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Odel on both sides of the split. Of the 351 people counted with this name, 264 were male (75.2%) and 87 were female (24.8%).
Popularity
Odel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Odel from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 67 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Odel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Odel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Odel
The name Odel has its origins in the Old Germanic language, tracing back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the root word "od," which means "prosperity" or "wealth." This name was commonly used among the Germanic tribes that inhabited regions of modern-day Germany, the Netherlands, and parts of Scandinavia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Odel can be found in the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century manuscript containing a translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. In this text, the name appears as "Odil," referring to a minor character.
During the Middle Ages, the name Odel gained popularity among the Germanic nobility. It was borne by several noblemen and knights, including Odel von Regensburg (1120-1187), a German nobleman and military leader who participated in the Crusades.
In the 16th century, the name Odel appeared in the writings of the German philosopher and theologian, Martin Luther. He mentioned an individual named Odel Sauerbeck in one of his treatises on religious reformation.
As the name spread across Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Odell, Odelle, and Odellius. One notable figure from this period was Odellius Philalethes (1570-1638), an alchemist and philosopher from England.
In the 19th century, the name Odel gained prominence in literature. Odel Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) was an English novelist and playwright, best known for his historical novel "The Last Days of Pompeii."
Other notable individuals with the name Odel include Odel Deodatus (1842-1912), a French painter and sculptor, and Odel Vierling (1888-1962), a German composer and conductor.
Overall, while not a widely used name today, Odel has a rich historical legacy spanning various cultures and disciplines, reflecting its Germanic roots and association with prosperity and wealth.
People
Odel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Odel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Odel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Odel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Odel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 10,386,495 US residents.
Is Odel a common name?
We classify Odel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Odel most popular?
The single biggest year for Odel was 1925, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Odel is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Odel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 348 people with the name Odel, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,649 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Odel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Odel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Odel on both sides of the split. Of the 351 people counted with this name, 264 were male (75.2%) and 87 were female (24.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Odel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odel is Black at 39.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.5%) and White (20.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Odel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Odel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.9% (139 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Odel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Odel a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Odel in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Odel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Odel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Odel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Odel as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.