Name Awesome

Otha

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Otha has been given to 7,789 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1920, with 140 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 82% boys, 18% girls all-time.

Babies named Otha, 2018

1 in 502,000

Otha over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Otha over time

In 2018, Otha went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18802018

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Otha: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Otha means

Otha is a given name.

The naming story behind Otha

Wikidata records Otha as a male given name. The entity identifier is Q7108545, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,386 boys were recorded with the name Otha between 1880 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 140 in 1920; its best national rank was #435 in 1896.

In the United States, 1,403 girls were recorded with the name Otha between 1887 and 1971. Its highest annual count was 45 in 1922; its best national rank was #982 in 1907.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Otha?

Otha had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018
1 in 502,000
7 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only
1 in 259,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
348,244 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Otha sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2018 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 348,244 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Otha. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Othas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Otha was born before 1937 — so the typical Otha is around 88 today.

Median birth year
1937
About 88 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,027
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.4% of all recorded uses (1,172).

Is Otha rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1920 (140)
Years since peak
105
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#435
1896

Spellings of Otha

Otha is not the most common spelling — Ethan is, with 78.2% against Otha's 1.0%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Otha is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Otha was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 2,381 boys, against 1 in 29,711 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

042 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 2,381
  2. 2Arkansas1 in 6,667
  3. 3Alabama1 in 10,000
  4. 4North Carolina1 in 11,111
  5. 5Tennessee1 in 12,500
  6. 6Georgia1 in 14,286
  7. 7Kentucky1 in 14,286
  8. 8Louisiana1 in 20,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Otha has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Otha is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Otha was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 33,333 girls, against 1 in 110,457 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 33,333
  2. 2Arkansas1 in 50,000
  3. 3Alabama1 in 100,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 100,000
  5. 5Texas1 in 100,000
  6. 6Louisiana1 in —
  7. 7North Carolina1 in —
  8. 8Oklahoma1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Otha has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Otha

People whose public names include Otha, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Otha by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#435
1896
Peak year
1920
140 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2018
All-time count
6,386
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#982
1907
Peak year
1922
45 that year
First recorded
1887
Last recorded
1971
All-time count
1,403
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Otha

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

OthoOthmanOthelOthnielOthelloMarthaOtherOthalBerthaOtharOthmarOthellOthonAthaCleothaJepthaSamanthaArthaOthieHiawathaOthorJonathaLeothaRatha

Names with a curve like Otha

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Otha, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HaywoodLacyDorseyAlvisRollinSherwoodAlfordDeeHiltonBurlEldridgeArlie

Sibling names for Otha

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Otha

Top names of 1920, Otha's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1896Boys' names starting with O