Baby Name of the Day: Octavia

The baby name Octaviacombines ancient style with an auspicious meaning.

Thanks to Luce for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME OCTAVIA MEAN?

If your first thought is Ancient Rome, then you’re right about Octavia.

It comes from the Roman family name Octavius from the Latin word for the number eight, octavus. 

Way back in the first century BC, the future Emperor Augustus was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus. His sisters both shared the feminine form of the family name: Octavia Major and Octavia Minor. 

The younger sister of Octavian became the wife of Mark Antony and appears in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. History remembers her as widely respected. The play echoes this description. Even though Octavia’s marriage is pure political alliance, she remains dignified and dutiful in the face of her husband’s betrayal. 

Her great-granddaughter also bore the name, and makes it into our history books at the wife of the Emperor Nero. That Octavia is a tragic figure. Seneca turned her sufferings into a play, one later adapted for opera by Handel, Kaiser, and Monteverdi.

LUCKY NUMBER EIGHT

The meaning of Octavia is simply eight, but there’s a little more to it. 

Eight is considered a lucky number in many cultures. Turn it on its side, and 8 resembles the infinity symbol: ∞. In Mandarin, “eight” sounds like the word for “good fortune.”

Maybe this name was once reserved for eighth-born children. At least that was true for a few: nineteenth century social reformer Octavia Hill was her father’s eighth child.

But in general, eight’s associations with good fortune are a plus.

Number names can carry layers of meaning. It might also be the perfect name for a daughter born in August, the eighth month. 

OLIVIA SUBSTITUTE

Name enthusiasts have been talking up the baby name Octavia for years. 

That’s partially because the similar-sounding Olivia debuted in the US Top 100 in 1990, and has been a Top Ten staple since 2001, now solidly established in the #1 spot. 

Octavia seems like an obvious substitute.

Just like Olivia shortens to Liv and Livy, Octavia becomes Tavia, Tave, and Tavy. 

The name also fits with musical choices, from Cadence to Harmony to Aria.

It’s another storied, beautiful name. 

OCTAVIA IN HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND FICTION

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the baby name Octavia appeared in the US Top 1000 consistently. 

The era was good to ancient names: Homer, Virgil, and Cassius also made the rankings; so did Minerva, Claudia, and Valeria. US President Zachary Taylor gave the name to a daughter born in 1816, but she died in childhood.

The name left the Top 1000 in 1938, returned in the 1970s, and departed again after 1999. Pop culture likely deserves credit for the name’s return in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Uses include:

• Prominent science fiction author Octavia E. Butler published her first novel in 1976, and has won Nebula and Hugo awards, along with a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant, since.
• Jilly Cooper gave the name to the title character in a bestselling 1977 novel. Cooper tended to choose a mix of on-trend and offbeat names for her novel titles. There’s also Emily, Bella, Harriet, Imogen, and Prudence.
• One more literary note: Robert Graves published his tales of the Roman Empire, I, Claudius and Claudius the God back in the 1930s. But they became a BBC miniseries in 1976, and aired on PBS multiple times over the following years.
• This one might be a little obscure: it’s the name of an evil octopus from 1980s cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, a He-Man spin-off.
• In 1986, a singer by the name scored a dance hit; it looks like the name spiked accordingly.

In some ways, the name never really went away. It just faded in use enough to leave the Top 1000, and languished slightly outside of the most popular names for years. Even between the 1970s and 90s, it only made the Top 500 for one brief year, following the pop singer’s biggest hit.

The BBC/HBO miniseries Rome featured a character by the name, beginning in 2005, and the name rose briefly – but stopped short of really catching on.

It wasn’t until later in the 2010s that the name trended, boosted by:

• Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer. She made her silver screen debut in 1996’s A Time to Kill, won an Oscar for 2011’s The Help, and has gone on to roles in 2016’s Hidden Figures, 2017’s The Shape of Water, and an Emmy-nominated role as Madam C.J. Walker in the 2020 Netflix miniseries Self Made.
• The 100, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, debuted on The CW in 2014. It gave us Octavia Blake, younger sister to Bellamy. As the series went on, she developed into a fierce warrior, and, eventually, a capable – if ruthless – queen. The series concluded in September of 2020.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME OCTAVIA?

Television series are some of the most powerful sources of name inspiration. The baby name Octavia more than doubled in use from 2014 to 2015. 

Octavia echoed the sounds of Olivia, as well as rising favorites with a middle V, like Ivy and Ava. 

By 2017, the name rocketed into the Top 1000, returning at #595 – a sky-high re-entry! It peaked at #247 in 2022, and retreated slightly to #295 as of 2024. 

That makes Octavia a sister for popular names like Aurora or Eliza, but still uncommon enough that it can appeal to families looking for something a little different. 

A NAME TO COUNT ON

A perfect choice for an August-born daughter, Octavia and strong and distinctive.

The meaning of the name Octavia suggests endurance and luck. Fictional and real-life bearers of the name bear that out. It’s easy to imagine some combination of The 100 character and Octavia Butler making this name appeal to sci fi fans, or parents inspired by Shakespearean baby names thinking Octavia hits exactly the right note.

What do you think of the baby name Octavia?

This post originally ran on August 8, 2008 and was revised and re-posted on December 27, 2011; June 6, 2018; and August 9, 2025.