How Many People Are Named Otto?
An estimated 16,830 people in the United States have the first name Otto. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 29 years old, and Otto peaked in popularity in 2024 with 1,239 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Otto as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Otto paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Otto is overwhelmingly male, 100 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
16,830
About 1 in 20,366 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
99.7% confidence
Average Age
29
years old
Peak Year
2024
1,239 births
Total Registered
38,769
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Otto
Otto is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 38,769 total births registered, 99.7% were male.
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)
Otto: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Otto span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1910s, when 5,593 babies were registered. Otto remains highly popular today, with recent registration numbers near its historical peak.
Otto by Decade
How has Otto tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 2,679 | 2,679 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 2,559 | 2,543 | 16 | |
| 1900s | 1,746 | 1,746 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 5,593 | 5,552 | 41 | |
| 1920s | 5,585 | 5,542 | 43 | |
| 1930s | 3,135 | 3,135 | 0 | |
| 1940s | 1,918 | 1,918 | 0 | |
| 1950s | 1,513 | 1,513 | 0 | |
| 1960s | 1,125 | 1,125 | 0 | |
| 1970s | 712 | 712 | 0 | |
| 1980s | 575 | 575 | 0 | |
| 1990s | 610 | 610 | 0 | |
| 2000s | 1,168 | 1,168 | 0 | |
| 2010s | 4,570 | 4,570 | 0 | |
| 2020s | 5,281 | 5,281 | 0 | |
Otto by State
Birth registrations for Otto span all 49 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, California, Illinois. The lowest are in Vermont, New Mexico, Hawaii. On average, about 550 Ottos were registered per state.
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.
Names Similar to Otto
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
Otto: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Otto?
We estimate approximately 16,830 people named Otto are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 20,366 Americans share this first name.
Is Otto a common name?
Otto is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 38,769 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Otto most popular?
Otto reached peak popularity in 2024, when 1,239 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Otto is approximately 29 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Otto a male name?
Otto is predominantly male. 99.7% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Otto Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Otto Smith, Otto Johnson, Otto Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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