Odetta
A feminine given name of Italian origin meaning "wealthy".
Name Census estimates that about 223 living Americans carry the first name Odetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Odetta today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Odetta births was 1922 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Odetta. 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 Odetta with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
223
~ 1 in 1,537,015 Americans
Peak year
1922
22 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,994
Tracked since 1900
Census
Odetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 398 people with the first name Odetta, which placed it at #24,271 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
#24,271
National first-name rank
People counted
398
398 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Odetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odetta is Black at 50.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.4%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Odetta 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 Odetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.5% · 201
- White31.4% · 125
- Two or more races7.3% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Odetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Odetta from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 140 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
Odetta 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 Odetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Odettas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Odetta
The name Odetta is a feminine given name of Italian origin, derived from the Germanic name Odetta or Odetta. It is a diminutive form of the Old German name Oda or Ode, which means "wealthy" or "prosperous." The name Oda itself is derived from the Germanic root "aud," meaning "fortune" or "riches."
The earliest recorded use of the name Odetta dates back to the 8th century, when it was used in parts of present-day Germany and Italy. It gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Italian regions such as Tuscany and Umbria.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Odetta was Odetta of Tuscany, a Benedictine nun who lived in the 11th century and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the 13th century, Odetta di Godilengo was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, known for her support of poets and writers in the city of Bologna.
During the Renaissance period, Odetta Malaspina was an influential Italian countess who played a significant role in the political affairs of Genoa in the 15th century.
In the 20th century, the name Odetta gained wider recognition due to the American folk singer and civil rights activist Odetta Holmes (1930-2008), known simply as Odetta. She was a prominent figure in the American folk music revival and was often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement."
Another notable Odetta was Odetta Graham (1920-2008), an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and television shows, including The Cosby Show and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
While the name Odetta is not as common today as it once was, it has a rich historical background and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including saints, noblewomen, and influential artists.
People
Odetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Odetta 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
Odetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Odetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 223 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Odetta 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 1,537,015 US residents.
Is Odetta a common name?
We classify Odetta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 628 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Odetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Odetta was 1922, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Odetta is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Odetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 398 people with the name Odetta, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,271 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 Odetta 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 Odetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Odetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 391 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Odetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odetta is Black at 50.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.4%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Odetta most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Odetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.5% (201 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 Odetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Odetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Odetta 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.
Is Odetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Odetta 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 Odetta 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 are named Odetta?
Want to know how many people share the name Odetta? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.