Othel
A masculine name of Middle English origin meaning "rich estate owner".
Name Census estimates that about 146 living Americans carry the first name Othel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Othel today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Othel births was 1921 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Othel. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Othel is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Othels were born before 1956.
People living today
146
~ 1 in 2,347,632 Americans
Peak year
1921
45 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1968 SSA rank
#3,590
Tracked since 1906
Census
Othel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 221 people with the first name Othel, which placed it at #36,071 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
#36,071
National first-name rank
People counted
221
221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Othel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Othel is White at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Othel 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 Othel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.9% · 128
- Black or African American34.4% · 76
- Two or more races5.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Othel
Othel leans heavily male at 82.6% of total registrations, but 154 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Othel as a male name
- Ranked #3,590 in 1968
- 7 male births in 1968
- Peak: 1921 (39 births)
Othel as a female name
- Ranked #4,871 in 1940
- 5 female births in 1940
- Peak: 1916 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Othel leans strongly male. 187 people counted with this name were male (84.6%), compared with 34 female bearers (15.4%).
Popularity
Othel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Othel from the 1900s through to the 1960s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 298 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Othel 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 Othel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Othels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the most babies named Othel, while Kentucky, Alabama, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Othel
The name Othel is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with its roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain between the 5th and 11th centuries. The name is derived from the Old English word "oðel," which means "homeland" or "ancestral estate." It was a common name among the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes who inhabited what is now England.
Othel was a popular name during the Middle Ages, particularly among the nobility and landowning classes. It was often given to sons who were expected to inherit the family's land and estates, symbolizing their connection to their ancestral roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Othel can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Several individuals with the name Othel are listed as landowners or tenants in various parts of the country.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Othel. One of the most famous was Othel of Devonshire (1075-1142), a prominent nobleman who served as a military commander during the reign of King Henry I of England. He played a crucial role in suppressing a rebellion against the king and was rewarded with substantial land grants for his loyalty.
Another historical figure named Othel was Othel de Montfort (1240-1298), a French nobleman and crusader who fought in the Eighth Crusade to the Holy Land. He was captured and held for ransom by the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt, but his family paid for his release, allowing him to return to France.
In the 14th century, Othel Chaucer (1340-1400) was a prominent English philosopher and author, known for his translations of classical works and his influential treatise on ethics and morality, "The Book of the Othel."
During the Renaissance period, Othel Cellini (1500-1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and artist who worked for the Medici family in Florence. He is famous for his masterful metalwork, including the iconic sculpture "Perseus with the Head of Medusa."
In more recent times, Othel Shakespeare (1864-1916) was a renowned English actor and theater manager who specialized in performing the works of William Shakespeare. He is credited with reviving interest in Shakespeare's plays and helping to establish them as a cornerstone of the English literary canon.
People
Othel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Othel 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
Othel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Othel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 146 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Othel 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 2,347,632 US residents.
Is Othel a common name?
We classify Othel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 886 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Othel most popular?
The single biggest year for Othel was 1921, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Othel is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Othel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 221 people with the name Othel, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,071 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 Othel 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 Othel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Othel leans strongly male. 187 people counted with this name were male (84.6%), compared with 34 female bearers (15.4%). 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 Othel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Othel is White at 57.9%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Two or More Races (5.9%). 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 Othel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Othel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.9% (128 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 Othel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Othel a male name?
Yes, 82.6% of people registered as Othel 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 Othel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Othel 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 Othel 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 Americans are named Othel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.