Names Like Otis: Otto, Odette, and More

Otto names make an interesting bunch.

Gently old-fashioned names like Otis, Felix, and Jasper feel just right for boys born in the 2020s. Yet none of the names related to Otto and company ranked in the current US Top 100.

Some have been favorites in English-speaking cultures in the past. Others could be in the coming decades. Otis is trending in the United Kingdom now. Parents in the United States favor o-ending Otto. 

But most of the choices on this list rank relatively low in usage, even if they’re high in historical significance.

Let’s take a closer look at the Otto names, because this family of quirky classics could be just right for you.

THE ORIGINAL: AUD

Once upon a time, there was a tiny Germanic name element: Aud. It meant wealth, fortune, or prosperity, and appeared mostly in compound names like Audovacar. 

Aud led to Audo, Odo, and the familiar Otto.

During the 5th century, a Roman soldier born around the Danube rose through the military ranks. He deposed the Western Roman Emperor and declared himself King of Italy, effectively ending the Empire at last. The year was 476, and the soldier’s name? Odovacar. 

The sound was fairly common, so not every name beginning with or ending in aud is related.

OTTO NAMES FOR BOYS

OTTO 

The first Holy Roman Emperor was Otto the Great, back in the 900s. Fast forward a thousand years to the 1800s in America, and Otto was a Top 100 pick. Then came war, and all things German were less desirable. Otto faded, leaving the US Top 1000 entirely in the 1970s. But now Otto is back, surging in use from just a handful around the turn of the 21st century to over 1200 as of 2024. The name returned to the US Top 1000 in 2011.  

Otto feels offbeat and cool, a masculine name with a touch of the unexpected. With that vibrant ‘o’ ending, it’s a less-popular alternative to Leo and Milo and the most popular name in this category in the US – at least for now. 

OTIS

Otto has the edge in terms of numbers, but the name Otis has potential, too. Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis admitted that they were influenced by singer-songwriter Otis Redding when they named their son Otis Alexander in 2014. Otis is originally a surname form – think of Elisha Otis, the innovator who brought elevators and escalators to the world. But it traveled to the first name spot long ago, and was only slightly less popular than Otto in the nineteenth century.  

Otis returned to the US Top 1000 in 2015, and is still heard as a last name. It’s a Top 100 choice in England & Wales, Belgium, and the Netherlands, too. 

ODE, ODO

Medieval forms of the name include the English Ode and French Odo. 11th century Norman nobleman Odo was appointed Bishop of Bayeux and later Earl of Kent. The half-brother of William the Conqueror, it’s thought that Odo commissioned the famous Bayeux Tapestry.

ODILON

No one is naming their sons Odilon. But this French rarity, just a few sounds removed from Shakespeare’s Oberon and the celestial Orion, seems worth a mention.

CODY, CODIE, KODY

Fun fact: Cody comes from an Irish surname, Mac Óda. It means son of Odo, as in Otto. Chances are that the Normans brought the Otto names to Ireland, and time worked its magic. Cody reached peak popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. 

GIRL NAMES LIKE OTIS AND OTTO

ODALIS, ODALYS

Both are elaborations of Otto names heard in Spanish-speaking countries. It’s also probably influenced by odalisque. By the 17th century, the term odalisque referred to a concubine or female slave in a harem – not a positive association for a child’s name, but familiar in art. It comes from the Turkish word odah – chamber – with a French suffix. In Spanish use, odalisca more commonly refers to a belly dancer or even more broadly to the idea of beauty. So Odalis is among the feminine names like Otis, but there’s more to this intriguing, beguiling name. 

ODELIA and ODILIA

Olivia, Amelia, Ophelia, Odelia. It’s easy to imagine this name fitting right in, isn’t it? Odelia hugged the edges of the US Top 1000 back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 56 girls were given the name last year.  Meanwhile, Odilia is even rarer – never in the Top 1000, and a mere 11 girls given the name in 2024. With no notable saints, queens, or pop culture references to speak of, Odelia seems destined to languish unused. And yet, if you’re after a girls’ name ending in -lia that is truly distinctive, Odelia qualifies.

ODETTE, ODETA

Odette had a good run in France in the 1920s, and Odette Sansom was a heroine of the French Resistance during World War II. In the US, Odette would have likely remained obscure, except for one little thing: The Black Swan. Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake was given new life in 2010, thanks to the Oscar-nominated film. Now we all know that the White Swan is called Odette. For a few years, Odette surfaced on all sorts of lists claiming it was a hipster baby name. Maybe. Because while it remains outside of the US Top 1000, a record 193 girls were named Odette in 2024. It might also succeed as a feminine name ending in -ette, along the lines of Scarlett and Juliette. Odeta is also sometimes heard, especially in Slavic languages. 

ODILE

If Odette is the White Swan, does the Black Swan have a name?  Yes, yes she does – Odile, pronounced oh DEEL. There’s a Saint Odile of Alsace. Tradition holds that she was born blind sometime in the 600s. Her powerful father disapproved of a disabled daughter. Odile was sent to a monastery, baptized, and her sight was miraculously restored. Her cult was big in the Middle Ages, especially in Germany, but Odile was a French saint. (Odilia is the Latinized form of Odile.) Strictly speaking, Odette evolved as a pet form of the more formal Odile – but they’ve long been understood as two separate names. In France, the name peaked in the 1950s. It’s seldom heard in the US.

OTTILIE

A favorite in name circles, with a literary lilt thanks to a Robert Louis Stevenson poem and a mention by Goethe. Ottilie feels French, but is actually German. That means the final ‘e’ is pronounced in German, making this sound more like Odelia. In England, though, Ottilie ranks in the current Top 100, and is pronounced phonetically: ah til ee. This name offers plenty of vintage charm. Americans, of course, change the consonants TT into more of a D sound, which gives some parents pause. Nevertheless, Ottilie continues to gain in use in the US, too. 

OTTOLINE

British actors Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge welcomed a daughter named Marlowe Ottoline in 2012. A few years earlier, the name was given to a children’s book character. During the 1920s and 30s, Lady Ottoline Morrell was a noted hostess of a literary salon that attracted writers like Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf, and TS Eliot. But that’s where the trail of noted Ottolines ends – at least for now.

ELODIE

A fast-rising favorite, Elodie entered the US Top 1000 in 2019 and continues to soar. No one would connect it to Otto. But it’s the French form of the Spanish Alodia. And Alodia probably came to Spain with the Visigoths between the 600s and 800s. It tracks back to the element aud. We remember Alodia because she was martyred in the ninth century during the Christian persecutions in Cordoba, along with her sister Nunila. But Elodie succeeds mainly on sound, a mix of Ellie and Emily and Sadie, too. It could be the perfect name for parents after something that shortens to Ellie but feels less expected than Eloise. 

UTA, UTE

A German feminine form, popular in the 20th century. Pronunce it with two syllables, more like oo-tah. Tony Award-winning actress Uta Hagan became one of the most influential acting coaches of recent memory, working with famous figures like Robert De Niro and Matthew Broderick.

OTTO COUSINS

This next group of Otto names connects to the original by a gossamer thin strand. Are they part of a rich tapestry of cultural variants … or completely separate names? That’s hard to say. 

Ead is the Old English equivalent of Aud, and it also features in many a name. It might be a stretch to call these Otto names, but they share some lingusitic DNA. 

EDGAR, EDITH, EDMUND, EDWARD, EDWIN, EDWINA

That Old English cousin to aud was well-used in given names. While some of these died out after the Norman conquest, many were revived in the nineteenth century. Today variations range from stylish up-and-comers like Edith to classics like Edward to those in style limbo – probably the right category for Edgar and Edwina, at least for now.

EUDES

No one is likely to name a son Eudes in the US today. But you’ll find Eudes in the history books. There was a ninth century King of West Francia. And Eudes survived as a surname, as in Saint John Eudes, the seventeenth century priest and founder of the Order of Our Lady of Charity.

ADAIR

A Scottish surname name, Adair is sometimes connected to the given name Edgar. Through Edgar, this becomes one of the Otto names. There’s some gender flexibility here – Adair was given to 59 boys and 22 girls in 2024, but during the 1980s and 90s, Adair was more likely to be a feminine name.

MONET

Monet immediately brings to mind the artist, Claude Monet, a founder of Impressionism, and perhaps one of the best known painters of all time. But as a surname, Monet may be related to Edmond – and thus an Otto name.

OTHELLO

Otho could be a Roman family name, or it might be another form of Otto.  If Otho is an Otto name, than so is Othello.

Which Otto names and names like Otis are your favorites? 

First published on January 16, 2015, this post was substantially revised on March 23, 2022 and again on May 4, 2026.