Odelia
A feminine given name of Old French origin meaning "wealth".
Name Census estimates that about 1,271 living Americans carry the first name Odelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Odelia today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Odelia births was 2024 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Odelia. 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.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 269,673 Americans
Peak year
2024
56 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,952
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Odelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Odelia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 343 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Odelia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Odelia 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 Odelia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Odelias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, New York recorded the most babies named Odelia, while North Carolina, Minnesota, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Odelia
The name Odelia is derived from the Greek word "odelos", which means "prosperous" or "wealthy". It has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BC.
The earliest known record of the name Odelia can be found in a Greek inscription from the island of Delos, where it was used as a feminine name. The name gained popularity during the Hellenistic period, which spanned from the 4th to the 1st century BC, when Greek culture spread throughout the Mediterranean region.
In ancient Greek mythology, Odelia was sometimes associated with the goddess Demeter, who was the goddess of agriculture and fertility. This connection likely contributed to the name's meaning of prosperity and abundance.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Odelia was Odelia of Corinth, a Greek poet and philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BC. She is known for her works on philosophy and ethics, which unfortunately have been lost to history.
Another notable figure was Odelia of Alexandria, a renowned mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 4th century AD. She made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and is credited with developing a method for calculating the position of the planets.
In the Middle Ages, the name Odelia was occasionally used in various European regions, particularly in Italy and France. One notable bearer of the name was Odelia of Montpellier, a 13th-century French noblewoman and patron of the arts, who sponsored many artists and writers during her lifetime.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained some popularity among the Italian nobility. Odelia Borghese, born in 1564, was an Italian countess and patron of the arts, known for her support of artists and writers in Rome.
In more recent history, Odelia Piper was an English author and poet who lived from 1829 to 1892. She was renowned for her romantic poetry and novels, which explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
People
Odelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Odelia 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
Odelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Odelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Odelia 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 269,673 US residents.
Is Odelia a common name?
We classify Odelia as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,803 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Odelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Odelia was 2024, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Odelia is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Odelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Odelia in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.