Otelia
Otelia was last recorded in 1982, when 7 babies were given it; 1,184 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1982 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Otelia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Otelia mean?
Wiktionary, Norwegian Bokmål section
Otelia is “a female given name from Latin [in turn from Old High German, in turn from Proto-Germanic], equivalent to English Ottilie”
One of several Norwegian spellings of a female given name going back to Latin Otilia, originally Odilia, a Latinised form of Old High German Odila and Otila, pet forms of names such as Oda. The Old High German names are formed from the Germanic name element reflected in *audaz (“wealth, riches”), with a pet-name or diminutive ending. Compare Danish Otelia, Swedish Otelia, German Ottilie and English Ottilie (“female given name”).
/uˈteː.li.a/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Norwegian Bokmål section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Otelia?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,916, in 1982; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
35 babies in 1923, the peak
Otelia peaked in 1923, when 35 girls were given it, #1,346 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 7 | #8,916 | 4.1 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,821 | 5.0 |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,222 | 3.0 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,763 | 5.3 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,236 | 2.8 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,554 | 3.2 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,800 | 4.7 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,367 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,460 | 5.0 |
| 1960 | 8 | #5,064 | 4.0 |
Every recorded year (81)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | 7 | #5,413 | 3.5 |
| 1957 | 11 | #3,867 | 5.4 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,644 | 2.5 |
| 1955 | 14 | #3,189 | 7.2 |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,896 | 5.1 |
| 1953 | 6 | #5,490 | 3.2 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,726 | 5.4 |
| 1951 | 9 | #3,923 | 5.0 |
| 1950 | 15 | #2,744 | 8.8 |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,129 | 7.0 |
| 1948 | 14 | #2,801 | 8.2 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,742 | 8.5 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,902 | 5.1 |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,324 | 6.9 |
| 1944 | 15 | #2,368 | 11.3 |
| 1943 | 18 | #2,132 | 12.9 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,656 | 5.9 |
| 1941 | 16 | #2,166 | 13.2 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,080 | 14.0 |
| 1939 | 9 | #3,090 | 8.2 |
| 1938 | 14 | #2,312 | 12.7 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,420 | 12.2 |
| 1936 | 16 | #2,006 | 15.4 |
| 1935 | 21 | #1,708 | 20.0 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,534 | 11.5 |
| 1933 | 21 | #1,703 | 20.8 |
| 1932 | 20 | #1,801 | 18.7 |
| 1931 | 19 | #1,857 | 17.8 |
| 1930 | 18 | #2,004 | 16.0 |
| 1929 | 18 | #2,001 | 16.1 |
| 1928 | 24 | #1,725 | 20.8 |
| 1927 | 19 | #2,079 | 15.9 |
| 1926 | 18 | #2,136 | 15.2 |
| 1925 | 32 | #1,462 | 26.3 |
| 1924 | 29 | #1,598 | 23.2 |
| 1923 | 35 | #1,346 | 29.0 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,774 | 20.0 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,661 | 21.9 |
| 1920 | 23 | #1,797 | 19.2 |
| 1919 | 33 | #1,363 | 29.2 |
| 1918 | 28 | #1,526 | 24.2 |
| 1917 | 31 | #1,327 | 28.7 |
| 1916 | 25 | #1,521 | 23.9 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,607 | 22.4 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,649 | 22.3 |
| 1913 | 19 | #1,348 | 30.4 |
| 1912 | 28 | #970 | 50.2 |
| 1911 | 17 | #1,101 | 40.6 |
| 1910 | 15 | #1,197 | 37.8 |
| 1909 | 16 | #1,041 | 46.1 |
| 1908 | 11 | #1,328 | 32.9 |
| 1907 | 25 | #757 | 78.5 |
| 1906 | 12 | #1,146 | 40.6 |
| 1905 | 20 | #845 | 68.6 |
| 1904 | 16 | #928 | 58.1 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,289 | 34.4 |
| 1902 | 13 | #1,008 | 49.2 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,433 | 29.2 |
| 1900 | 17 | #938 | 56.7 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,782 | 21.5 |
| 1898 | 7 | #1,474 | 27.1 |
| 1897 | 14 | #889 | 59.8 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,189 | 37.8 |
| 1895 | 10 | #1,106 | 42.8 |
| 1894 | 7 | #1,323 | 31.4 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,395 | 28.2 |
| 1891 | 10 | #935 | 53.9 |
| 1890 | 15 | #713 | 78.8 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,267 | 34.3 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,002 | 46.4 |
| 1880 | 7 | #724 | 76.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Otelia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Otelia has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 81 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Otelia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Otelia, and how old are they?
An estimated 243 Americans named Otelia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (21% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 66 and 83. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 483 people named Otelia (478 women and girls, 5 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 323 born in the U.S. The Census count is 50% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Otelia born?
The states with the most babies named Otelia are Virginia, North Carolina and Texas, with 100% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Virginia is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 233 | not ranked | 9.7× |
| North Carolina | 62 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Texas | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Otelia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Otelia is most over-represented in Virginia: since 1910 it was given 9.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Otelia with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 4,523 babies since 1880, Otelia is the second most given (26% of them). In 2025 none of their 39 babies recorded by SSA was a Otelia (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Otelia
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Otelia and names like it
- Compare Otelia and OtiliaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sOtelia peaked in 1923.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Otelia since 1910.
- The top names of 1923The year the most babies were named Otelia.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Otelia alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with OMost given first.