Ottavio
Masculine name of Latin origin meaning "eighth-born son".
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Ottavio. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ottavio today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ottavio births was 1921 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ottavio. 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 Ottavio with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ottavio. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
1921
11 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,924
Tracked since 1915
Census
Ottavio in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 291 people with the first name Ottavio, which placed it at #30,113 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
#30,113
National first-name rank
People counted
291
291 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ottavio
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ottavio is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Ottavio 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 Ottavio at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.4% · 269
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 16
- Black or African American1.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Ottavio: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ottavio from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 31 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Ottavio remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ottavio 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 Ottavio 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 Ottavio
The given name Ottavio has its origins in the Italian language. It is derived from the Latin name Octavius, which in turn comes from the Latin word "octavus" meaning "eighth." This is likely a reference to a child being born as the eighth in the family.
The earliest known use of the name Ottavio dates back to the 1st century BC in ancient Rome. One of the most famous historical figures with this name was Ottavio Augusto, known more commonly as Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor. He was born in 63 BC with the name Gaius Octavius and ruled from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ottavio was occasionally used in Italy, but it saw a resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance period. A notable bearer of the name from this time was Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, who lived from 1524 to 1586.
The name continued to be used in Italy throughout the early modern period. Ottavio Piccolomini, an Italian nobleman and military leader, was born in 1599 and died in 1656. He played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War.
Another famous Ottavio was Ottavio Rinuccini, an Italian poet and librettist born in 1562. He is best known for writing the libretto for the opera "Dafne" by Jacopo Peri, which is considered one of the earliest operas.
In more recent times, the name has been borne by Ottavio Missoni, an Italian fashion designer and founder of the Missoni fashion house. He was born in 1921 and passed away in 2013.
While the name Ottavio is primarily associated with Italian culture and history, it has also been used in other parts of the world, particularly in areas with strong Italian influences. However, its usage remains relatively uncommon outside of Italy.
People
Ottavio + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ottavio 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
Ottavio: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ottavio?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ottavio 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 9,263,631 US residents.
Is Ottavio a common name?
We classify Ottavio as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 90 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ottavio most popular?
The single biggest year for Ottavio was 1921, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ottavio is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ottavio in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 291 people with the name Ottavio, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,113 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 Ottavio 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 Ottavio?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ottavio appears almost entirely male. Of the 286 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Ottavio?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ottavio is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Black (1.4%). 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 Ottavio most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ottavio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (269 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 Ottavio in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ottavio a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ottavio 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 Ottavio still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ottavio 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 Ottavio 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 have Ottavio as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.