Othelia
Female name meaning "wealth" or "prosperity", from the Old English Othinc.
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Othelia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Othelia today is around 87 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Othelia births was 1917 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Othelia. 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
- • The typical person named Othelia is about 87 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Othelias were born before 1949.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Othelia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1917
19 babies that year
Average age
87
years old
1952 SSA rank
#5,392
Tracked since 1895
Popularity
Othelia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Othelia from the 1890s through to the 1950s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 104 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
Othelia 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 Othelia 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 Othelia
The name Othelia is believed to have originated from the Greek language, with roots tracing back to the classical era of Ancient Greece. It is derived from the Greek word "othelos," which means "plump" or "fertile." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with concepts of abundance, prosperity, and fertility.
In ancient Greek mythology, there is a figure named Othelia, who was one of the Nereids, the fifty sea nymph daughters of the sea god Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. Othelia was known for her beauty and grace, and her name embodied the bounty and richness of the sea.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Othelia can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire, where it was used as a feminine name among the Greek-speaking population. In the 6th century, there is a record of an Othelia who was a nun in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.
In the Middle Ages, the name Othelia was relatively uncommon but not unheard of in various parts of Europe. One notable figure from this period was Othelia of Normandy (1080-1115), a French noblewoman who was the daughter of Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, and wife of Gerard Gherardini, Count of Burgundy.
During the Renaissance, the name Othelia gained some popularity in Italy, particularly in the northern regions. One famous bearer of the name was Othelia Baglioni (1492-1557), an Italian noblewoman and member of the powerful Baglioni family of Perugia.
In the 17th century, the name Othelia was used by several notable figures, including Othelia de Bourbon (1594-1627), a French princess who was the daughter of King Henry IV of France and his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Othelia Revett (1676-1751), an English artist and antiquarian who is best known for her contributions to the study of ancient Greek architecture through her work with her husband, Nicholas Revett, on the publication "The Antiquities of Athens."
As the name Othelia transcended time and geographical boundaries, it continued to be borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds and eras. These include Othelia Amalie Wilhelmine Zitze (1784-1856), a German writer and translator, and Othelia Myrtilla Lovering (1874-1953), an American educator and suffragist.
People
Othelia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Othelia 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
Othelia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Othelia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Othelia 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 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Othelia a common name?
We classify Othelia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 326 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Othelia most popular?
The single biggest year for Othelia was 1917, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Othelia is about 87 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Othelia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Othelia 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.