Othoniel
A French name of Hebrew origin meaning "lion of God".
Name Census estimates that about 35 living Americans carry the first name Othoniel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Othoniel today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Othoniel births was 1977 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Othoniel. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Othoniel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
35
~ 1 in 9,792,981 Americans
Peak year
1977
8 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,839
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Othoniel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Othoniel from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Othoniel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Othoniel 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 Othoniel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Othoniels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Othoniel
The name Othoniel has its origins in Hebrew and is derived from the Hebrew name "Othni'el" which means "lion of God" or "strength of God." This name finds its roots in the biblical figure of the same name mentioned in the Book of Judges.
Othoniel was one of the judges of Israel, and the first mentioned in the Book of Judges. He was the son of Kenaz, and is credited with delivering the Israelites from the oppression of the Mesopotamian king Cushan-Rishathaim. The name Othoniel is a variant of the Hebrew name Othni'el, with the "o" and "i" sounds being interchanged.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Othoniel can be found in the 11th century, where it was used by a French nobleman named Othoniel de Chevreuse. This nobleman was a member of the House of Chevreuse, a noble family in the Île-de-France region of France.
Another notable figure who bore the name Othoniel was Othoniel de Marli, a 13th-century French knight who participated in the Seventh Crusade. He was a member of the retinue of King Louis IX of France during the Crusade.
In the 16th century, Othoniel Candion was a French Protestant theologian and author who wrote several works defending the Reformation. He was born in Normandy in 1520 and died in Geneva in 1573.
Moving to the 17th century, Othoniel de Villelongue was a French architect and engineer who worked on various projects in Paris, including the reconstruction of the Pont Neuf bridge. He lived from 1592 to 1668.
In the 19th century, Othoniel Sabatiér was a French poet and dramatist who was part of the Provençal Renaissance literary movement. He was born in Marseille in 1825 and died in Paris in 1889.
These are just a few examples of individuals who bore the name Othoniel throughout history, highlighting its Hebrew origins and its use across various cultures and time periods, particularly in France.
People
Othoniel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Othoniel 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
Othoniel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Othoniel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Othoniel 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 9,792,981 US residents.
Is Othoniel a common name?
We classify Othoniel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Othoniel most popular?
The single biggest year for Othoniel was 1977, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Othoniel is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Othoniel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Othoniel 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.
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.