Otto
A masculine name of Germanic origin, meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 16,830 living Americans carry the first name Otto. It sits at #274 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Otto today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Otto births was 2024 (1,239 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Otto. 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 Otto with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Otto is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 100 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 20,366 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,239 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#274
Tracked since 1880
Census
Otto in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,726 people with the first name Otto, which placed it at #1,918 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
#1,918
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,726 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Otto
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Otto is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Otto 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 Otto at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 9,892
- Hispanic or Latino21.7% · 3,202
- Black or African American5.5% · 805
- Two or more races3.4% · 506
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 243
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Otto
Out of the 38,769 babies given the name Otto since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Otto as a male name
- Ranked #274 in 2024
- 1,239 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,239 births)
Otto as a female name
- Ranked #3,088 in 1929
- 10 female births in 1929
- Peak: 1917 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Otto appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,718 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Otto: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Otto from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 5,593 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Otto 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 Otto during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ottos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Otto, while Vermont, New Mexico, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 550 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Otto
The name Otto is a masculine given name of Germanic origin that has been in use since at least the 8th century. It is derived from the Old German name Aud, which was a shortened form of other names beginning with the element "aud" meaning "wealth" or "prosperity."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Otto dates back to the 9th century, when Otto the Illustrious was the Duke of Saxony from 880 to 912. He was a notable figure in the Carolingian dynasty and played a crucial role in the defense of the Frankish Empire against Viking raids.
In the 10th century, Otto I, also known as Otto the Great (912-973), became the Holy Roman Emperor and is considered one of the most influential rulers of medieval Europe. He consolidated the power of the German monarchy and expanded the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire through military conquests.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Otto was Otto III (980-1002), who became the Holy Roman Emperor at the age of three and reigned from 996 until his death. His reign was marked by efforts to revive the imperial authority of Rome and establish a universal Christian empire.
In the 12th century, Otto of Freising (c. 1114-1158) was a German bishop and one of the greatest historians of the Middle Ages. His work, The Two Cities, is a valuable source of information about the political and religious events of his time.
During the Renaissance period, Otto Brunfels (c. 1488-1534) was a German theologian and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plants and their medicinal properties. He is considered one of the founders of the scientific study of botany.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Otto throughout history, but it has been a popular name across various cultures and time periods, particularly in German-speaking regions and Scandinavian countries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Otto
People
Otto + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Otto 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
Otto: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Otto?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16,830 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Otto 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 20,366 US residents.
Is Otto a common name?
We classify Otto as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38,769 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Otto most popular?
The single biggest year for Otto was 2024, when 1,239 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Otto is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Otto in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,726 people with the name Otto, or 4.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,918 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 Otto 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 Otto?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Otto appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,718 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Otto?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Otto is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.7%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Otto most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Otto in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (9,892 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 Otto in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Otto a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Otto 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 Otto still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Otto 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 Otto 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 the name Otto?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.