Otis
Otis was given to 422 boys in 2025, #652 among boys’ names; 61,969 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 25,800 Americans named Otis and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (42% of everyone recorded); the median is 57 years old and half are between 32 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Otis by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Otis mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Otis is “a male given name from the Germanic languages, transferred from the surname.”
A patronymic surname derived from Middle English genitive case of the Germanic given name Ote, Ode, cognate to modern Otto.
/ˈoʊtɪs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Otis?
#652 among boys’ names, 2025
Otis rose from #845 in 2015 to #652 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.14 to 0.25 per 1,000.
1,056 babies in 1920, the peak
Otis peaked in 1920, when 1,056 babies were given it (1,031 boys, #146 among boys’ names). The 422 births of 2025 are 40% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 422 | #652 | 0.25 |
| 2024 | 359 | #733 | 0.21 |
| 2023 | 420 | #651 | 0.25 |
| 2022 | 456 | #615 | 0.26 |
| 2021 | 427 | #647 | 0.24 |
| 2020 | 413 | #648 | 0.24 |
| 2019 | 351 | #706 | 0.20 |
| 2018 | 325 | #736 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 319 | #744 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 324 | #752 | 0.17 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 266 | #845 | 0.14 |
| 2014 | 203 | #1,010 | 0.11 |
| 2013 | 177 | #1,064 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 183 | #1,048 | 0.10 |
| 2011 | 144 | #1,217 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 122 | #1,381 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 131 | #1,328 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 120 | #1,412 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 112 | #1,442 | 0.05 |
| 2006 | 107 | #1,450 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 106 | #1,407 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 80 | #1,623 | 0.04 |
| 2003 | 78 | #1,624 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 82 | #1,524 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 115 | #1,187 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 97 | #1,327 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 84 | #1,400 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 104 | #1,191 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 111 | #1,129 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 115 | #1,062 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 114 | #1,047 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 138 | #936 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 149 | #871 | 0.08 |
| 1992 | 155 | #850 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 184 | #751 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 213 | #697 | 0.10 |
| 1989 | 193 | #708 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 192 | #679 | 0.10 |
| 1987 | 194 | #657 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | 213 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 203 | #614 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 218 | #575 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 205 | #600 | 0.11 |
| 1982 | 254 | #539 | 0.14 |
| 1981 | 269 | #514 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 296 | #492 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 329 | #448 | 0.19 |
| 1978 | 297 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1977 | 302 | #462 | 0.18 |
| 1976 | 324 | #431 | 0.21 |
| 1975 | 330 | #435 | 0.21 |
| 1974 | 309 | #457 | 0.20 |
| 1973 | 371 | #405 | 0.24 |
| 1972 | 379 | #404 | 0.23 |
| 1971 | 416 | #397 | 0.24 |
| 1970 | 496 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1969 | 532 | #339 | 0.30 |
| 1968 | 497 | #348 | 0.29 |
| 1967 | 414 | #368 | 0.24 |
| 1966 | 421 | #369 | 0.24 |
| 1965 | 472 | #351 | 0.25 |
| 1964 | 532 | #341 | 0.27 |
| 1963 | 510 | #341 | 0.25 |
| 1962 | 477 | #366 | 0.23 |
| 1961 | 544 | #335 | 0.26 |
| 1960 | 556 | #326 | 0.26 |
| 1959 | 617 | #311 | 0.29 |
| 1958 | 662 | #294 | 0.31 |
| 1957 | 662 | #288 | 0.31 |
| 1956 | 706 | #278 | 0.33 |
| 1955 | 721 | #259 | 0.35 |
| 1954 | 751 | #257 | 0.37 |
| 1953 | 767 | #246 | 0.39 |
| 1952 | 748 | #250 | 0.38 |
| 1951 | 820 | #231 | 0.44 |
| 1950 | 831 | #221 | 0.46 |
| 1949 | 817 | #224 | 0.46 |
| 1948 | 845 | #221 | 0.48 |
| 1947 | 870 | #217 | 0.48 |
| 1946 | 781 | #217 | 0.48 |
| 1945 | 706 | #205 | 0.52 |
| 1944 | 759 | #198 | 0.56 |
| 1943 | 742 | #209 | 0.52 |
| 1942 | 737 | #207 | 0.53 |
| 1941 | 736 | #195 | 0.60 |
| 1940 | 661 | #200 | 0.57 |
| 1939 | 730 | #185 | 0.66 |
| 1938 | 718 | #190 | 0.65 |
| 1937 | 681 | #189 | 0.64 |
| 1936 | 699 | #187 | 0.67 |
| 1935 | 730 | #182 | 0.70 |
| 1934 | 769 | #177 | 0.74 |
| 1933 | 756 | #175 | 0.76 |
| 1932 | 812 | #174 | 0.78 |
| 1931 | 730 | #181 | 0.70 |
| 1930 | 831 | #172 | 0.76 |
| 1929 | 796 | #177 | 0.74 |
| 1928 | 884 | #165 | 0.80 |
| 1927 | 901 | #167 | 0.80 |
| 1926 | 878 | #168 | 0.79 |
| 1925 | 958 | #159 | 0.86 |
| 1924 | 1,011 | #158 | 0.89 |
| 1923 | 904 | #165 | 0.82 |
| 1922 | 988 | #156 | 0.91 |
| 1921 | 1,001 | #151 | 0.91 |
| 1920 | 1,031 | #146 | 1.0 |
| 1919 | 931 | #146 | 0.95 |
| 1918 | 936 | #151 | 0.92 |
| 1917 | 912 | #145 | 1.0 |
| 1916 | 908 | #142 | 1.0 |
| 1915 | 901 | #141 | 1.1 |
| 1914 | 709 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1913 | 557 | #140 | 1.1 |
| 1912 | 522 | #126 | 1.2 |
| 1911 | 302 | #122 | 1.3 |
| 1910 | 285 | #109 | 1.5 |
| 1909 | 267 | #99 | 1.6 |
| 1908 | 243 | #105 | 1.6 |
| 1907 | 199 | #121 | 1.4 |
| 1906 | 184 | #116 | 1.4 |
| 1905 | 216 | #99 | 1.6 |
| 1904 | 181 | #115 | 1.4 |
| 1903 | 168 | #118 | 1.4 |
| 1902 | 169 | #112 | 1.4 |
| 1901 | 127 | #135 | 1.2 |
| 1900 | 212 | #110 | 1.4 |
| 1899 | 185 | #94 | 1.7 |
| 1898 | 179 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1897 | 133 | #123 | 1.2 |
| 1896 | 124 | #135 | 1.0 |
| 1895 | 133 | #127 | 1.1 |
| 1894 | 129 | #122 | 1.1 |
| 1893 | 124 | #123 | 1.1 |
| 1892 | 126 | #130 | 1.0 |
| 1891 | 97 | #139 | 1.0 |
| 1890 | 119 | #122 | 1.1 |
| 1889 | 116 | #121 | 1.0 |
| 1888 | 116 | #133 | 1.0 |
| 1887 | 97 | #132 | 1.0 |
| 1886 | 99 | #137 | 0.89 |
| 1885 | 89 | #152 | 0.83 |
| 1884 | 107 | #134 | 0.93 |
| 1883 | 89 | #146 | 0.85 |
| 1882 | 116 | #122 | 1.0 |
| 1881 | 89 | #139 | 0.88 |
| 1880 | 88 | #156 | 0.80 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Otis a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 61,969 Americans recorded as Otis, 1% are girls and 99% boys. In 2025 it went to 422 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Otis: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Otis, and how old are they?
25,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 42% of the 61,969 Americans ever recorded as Otis. The median Otis alive today is 57 years old; half are between 32 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 21,414 people named Otis (160 women and girls, 21,254 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 27,243 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,590 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 8,650 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,480 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,850 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,750 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,430 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 Otis born?
The states with the most babies named Otis are Georgia, Texas and Alabama, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 5,320 | #837 | 3.1× |
| Texas | 4,315 | #1,004 | 1.2× |
| Alabama | 3,581 | #742 | 2.7× |
| North Carolina | 3,300 | #1,003 | 1.8× |
| Mississippi | 3,269 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| South Carolina | 2,749 | #840 | 2.6× |
| Virginia | 2,583 | #943 | 1.9× |
| Louisiana | 2,455 | #872 | 2.1× |
| Florida | 2,235 | #799 | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 2,130 | #563 | 0.7× |
Where Otis is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Otis is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 3.3 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 boys’ 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 Otis 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 66,616 babies since 1880, Otis is the most given (93% of them). In 2025 it was given to 422 of their 437 babies (97%), again the most given.
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 Otis
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 Otis and names like it
- Compare Otis and OttisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sOtis peaked in 1920.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Otis since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Otis: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Otis.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Otis alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with OMost given first.