Odera
Of uncertain origin and meaning, potentially related to a word meaning "light".
Name Census estimates that about 31 living Americans carry the first name Odera. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Odera today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Odera births was 1999 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Odera. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Odera with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Odera. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
31
~ 1 in 11,056,592 Americans
Peak year
1999
19 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2019 SSA rank
#7,134
Tracked since 1999
Census
Odera in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 127 people with the first name Odera, which placed it at #49,170 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
#49,170
National first-name rank
People counted
127
127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
95.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Odera
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odera is Black at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.4%) and White (1.6%). 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 Odera 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 Odera at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American95.3% · 121
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 3
- White1.6% · 2
- Two or more races0.8% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Odera
Odera is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 32 total registrations, 18 (56.3%) were male and 14 (43.8%) were female.
Odera as a male name
- Ranked #13,578 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 2005 (8 births)
Odera as a female name
- Ranked #7,134 in 1999
- 14 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1999 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Odera on both sides of the split. Of the 128 people counted with this name, 62 were male (48.4%) and 66 were female (51.6%).
Popularity
Odera: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Odera from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 19 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Odera 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 Odera 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 Odera
The name Odera is of Luo origin, an ethnic group from western Kenya and parts of Tanzania. Its roots can be traced back to the Nilotic languages spoken in the region for centuries. The name Odera is derived from the word "oder," which means "born during the rains" or "born after the rains" in the Dholuo language.
In traditional Luo culture, names often carried symbolic meanings related to the circumstances surrounding a child's birth or the hopes and aspirations of the parents. The name Odera likely emerged as a way to commemorate a birth that occurred during or after the rainy season, a time of renewed life and fertility in the region.
While the exact origins of the name are difficult to pinpoint, some historians believe it may have been in use among the Luo people as early as the 16th century. However, the earliest recorded instances of the name Odera appear in colonial-era records and missionary accounts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One notable figure bearing the name Odera was Odera Akang'o, a prominent Luo chief and leader who played a significant role in the resistance against British colonial rule in Kenya in the early 20th century. He was born in 1872 and died in 1944, leaving a lasting legacy as a defender of Luo traditions and land rights.
Another historical figure with the name Odera was Odera Okelo, a Kenyan politician and member of the Legislative Council in the 1950s. He was born in 1904 and was actively involved in the fight for Kenya's independence from British rule.
In the realm of literature, Odera Oruko was a renowned Kenyan poet and writer who gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Born in 1940, he was known for his use of the Dholuo language in his works, which explored themes of identity, culture, and social issues.
Odera Kamara, born in 1961, is a Kenyan academic and educator who has made significant contributions to the field of education and curriculum development in Kenya and beyond.
Lastly, Odera Guya, born in 1982, is a contemporary Kenyan artist and sculptor whose works have been exhibited internationally, often exploring themes of identity, culture, and the human experience.
People
Odera + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Odera 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
Odera: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Odera?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Odera 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 11,056,592 US residents.
Is Odera a common name?
We classify Odera as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Odera most popular?
The single biggest year for Odera was 1999, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Odera is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Odera in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 127 people with the name Odera, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,170 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 Odera 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 Odera?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Odera on both sides of the split. Of the 128 people counted with this name, 62 were male (48.4%) and 66 were female (51.6%). 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 Odera?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odera is Black at 95.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.4%) and White (1.6%). 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 Odera most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Odera in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.3% (121 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 Odera in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Odera a male name?
Yes, 56.3% of people registered as Odera 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 Odera still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Odera 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 Odera 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 share the name Odera?
Want to know how many Americans are named Odera? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.