Odysseus
A masculine given name from Greek mythology meaning "troublesome, hateful".
Name Census estimates that about 478 living Americans carry the first name Odysseus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Odysseus today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Odysseus births was 2019 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Odysseus. 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 Odysseus with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
478
~ 1 in 717,059 Americans
Peak year
2019
43 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,131
Tracked since 1999
Census
Odysseus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 333 people with the first name Odysseus, which placed it at #27,468 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
#27,468
National first-name rank
People counted
333
333 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Odysseus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odysseus is White at 44.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.6%) and Two or More Races (12.9%). 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 Odysseus 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 Odysseus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.7% · 149
- Hispanic or Latino27.6% · 92
- Two or more races12.9% · 43
- Black or African American9.0% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Odysseus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Odysseus from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 247 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Odysseus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Odysseus 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 Odysseus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Odysseus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Washington recorded the most babies named Odysseus, while Washington, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Odysseus
The given name Odysseus has its origins in ancient Greek mythology and literature. It is derived from the Greek words odys, meaning "trouble," and nēos, meaning "heart" or "soul." The name's meaning is often interpreted as "troubled soul" or "one who endures troubles."
Odysseus is the Latin spelling of the Greek name Odysseus, which is the name of the legendary Greek hero and the main protagonist in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. The Odyssey, believed to have been composed around the 8th century BCE, tells the story of Odysseus's journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
The name Odysseus first appears in this ancient Greek epic, and the character's adventures and struggles have become an integral part of Western literature and mythology. Odysseus is renowned for his cunning, resilience, and resourcefulness, as he overcomes numerous challenges and obstacles during his decade-long journey.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Odysseus was Odysseus of Chios, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BCE. He is credited with contributing to the development of early geometry and the study of conic sections.
Another notable figure named Odysseus was Odysseus of Corinth, a Greek tyrant who ruled the city-state of Corinth in the 6th century BCE. He gained control of the city through cunning and deception and is remembered for his harsh and oppressive rule.
In the 2nd century CE, there was a Greek writer and philosopher named Odysseus of Miletus, who wrote on various topics including ethics, politics, and natural philosophy.
During the Byzantine Empire, Odysseus Monembasus was a high-ranking military commander and statesman who lived in the 11th century CE. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Turks.
In more recent history, Odysseus Androutsos was a Greek revolutionary and military leader who fought against Ottoman rule during the Greek War of Independence in the early 19th century. He is considered a national hero in Greece for his contributions to the struggle for independence.
People
Odysseus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Odysseus 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
Odysseus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Odysseus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 478 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Odysseus 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 717,059 US residents.
Is Odysseus a common name?
We classify Odysseus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 482 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Odysseus most popular?
The single biggest year for Odysseus was 2019, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Odysseus is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Odysseus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 333 people with the name Odysseus, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,468 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 Odysseus 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 Odysseus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Odysseus leans strongly male. 333 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Odysseus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Odysseus is White at 44.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.6%) and Two or More Races (12.9%). 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 Odysseus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Odysseus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.7% (149 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 Odysseus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Odysseus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Odysseus 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 Odysseus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Odysseus 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 Odysseus 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 Odysseus?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Odysseus, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.