Otho
A masculine name derived from the Old German name Odo, meaning "wealthy".
Name Census estimates that about 621 living Americans carry the first name Otho. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Otho today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Otho births was 1915 (109 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Otho. 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 Otho is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Othos were born before 1961.
People living today
621
~ 1 in 551,939 Americans
Peak year
1915
109 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1991 SSA rank
#9,226
Tracked since 1880
Census
Otho in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 580 people with the first name Otho, which placed it at #18,544 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
#18,544
National first-name rank
People counted
580
580 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Otho
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Otho is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Otho 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 Otho at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.7% · 416
- Black or African American24.1% · 140
- Two or more races1.9% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Otho: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Otho from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 784 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
Otho 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 Otho during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Othos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Mississippi, Texas, Virginia recorded the most babies named Otho, while Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 64 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Otho
The name Otho originated in ancient Rome, deriving from the Latin word "Otho" meaning "wealth" or "riches." It first rose to prominence during the 1st century AD.
In Roman history, Otho was the name of a short-reigning Roman emperor, Marcus Salvius Otho, who ruled from January to April in 69 AD. He is notable for being one of the four emperors who ruled in the chaotic Year of the Four Emperors.
The name Otho also appears in the writings of ancient Roman historians such as Suetonius and Tacitus, who documented the events surrounding the reign of Emperor Otho and the civil wars that followed the death of Emperor Nero.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Otho was Otho the Illustrious, a Benedictine monk and scholar who lived in the late 11th century. He served as the abbot of the St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg, Germany.
Another notable figure named Otho was Otho I, Duke of Burgundy, who lived from around 1170 to 1200. He was a powerful nobleman and a key figure in the struggle between the Capetian kings of France and the Plantagenet rulers of England.
In the 14th century, Otho de Granson was a French knight and diplomat who served under King Charles V of France. He was known for his military exploits and his role in negotiating peace treaties.
In the 16th century, Otho Sidler was a Swiss Protestant Reformer who worked alongside John Calvin in Geneva. He played a significant role in the spread of Calvinism in Switzerland.
During the Renaissance period, Otho van Veen, also known as Otto Venius, was a renowned Flemish painter and art theorist. He was born in 1556 and is known for his work in the Mannerist and early Baroque styles.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Otho, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Otho + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Otho 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
Otho: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Otho?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 621 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Otho 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 551,939 US residents.
Is Otho a common name?
We classify Otho as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,328 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Otho most popular?
The single biggest year for Otho was 1915, when 109 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Otho is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Otho in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 580 people with the name Otho, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,544 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 Otho 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 Otho?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Otho appears almost entirely male. Of the 581 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Otho?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Otho is White at 71.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.1%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Otho most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Otho in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.7% (416 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 Otho in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Otho a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Otho 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 Otho still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Otho 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 Otho 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 common is the name Otho?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.