Head to head · Boys' names
Damon vs Odin
#501 vs #501 in 2025 · Greek vs Proto-Germanic roots · both stepping back from its peak
Damon and Odin share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#501). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Damon leads 3 measures of 6; Odin leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Damon #892, Odin #848 — Odin higher
- 1890s: Damon #853, Odin — — Damon higher
- 1900s: Damon #802, Odin #1185 — Damon higher
- 1910s: Damon #1044, Odin #2179 — Damon higher
- 1920s: Damon #877, Odin #3408 — Damon higher
- 1930s: Damon #786, Odin #3533 — Damon higher
- 1940s: Damon #686, Odin #3331 — Damon higher
- 1950s: Damon #532, Odin — — Damon higher
- 1960s: Damon #285, Odin #3724 — Damon higher
- 1970s: Damon #135, Odin #4376 — Damon higher
- 1980s: Damon #324, Odin #5115 — Damon higher
- 1990s: Damon #287, Odin #5362 — Damon higher
- 2000s: Damon #360, Odin #1423 — Damon higher
- 2010s: Damon #421, Odin #512 — Damon higher
- 2020s: Damon #443, Odin #388 — Odin higher
Damon stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Odin took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Damon | Odin |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #892 | #848 |
| 1890s | #853 | — |
| 1900s | #802 | #1185 |
| 1910s | #1044 | #2179 |
| 1920s | #877 | #3408 |
| 1930s | #786 | #3533 |
| 1940s | #686 | #3331 |
| 1950s | #532 | — |
| 1960s | #285 | #3724 |
| 1970s | #135 | #4376 |
| 1980s | #324 | #5115 |
| 1990s | #287 | #5362 |
| 2000s | #360 | #1423 |
| 2010s | #421 | #512 |
| 2020s | #443 | #388 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Damon
to tame, to subdue
From the Greek verb damazō, 'to tame'. The same root stands behind the name Damian.
Δάμων (Greek) → Damon (Latin) → Damon (English)
How it traveled
The name begins as Greek Δάμων, formed on damazō, 'to tame'. It belonged to real men in the classical Greek world and then to literature: Virgil, writing in the first century BC, names one of the duelling shepherd-singers of his eighth Eclogue Damon, and the Renaissance and Restoration poets who imitated him kept the name in circulation as a pastoral standby.
Odin
From Old Norse óðr — 'inspiration, poetry, frenzy, fury'
Óðinn is built on óðr, a word covering poetic inspiration and ecstatic rage alike, with the Norse suffix -inn. The double sense is in the language itself, not a later gloss.
*Wōðanaz (Proto-Germanic) → Wōden (Old English) → Óðinn (Old Norse) → Odin
How it traveled
The name comes from Old Norse Óðinn, and behind that from the reconstructed Germanic *Wōðanaz, a figure worshipped across the Germanic-speaking world long before anyone wrote him down. He reaches us mainly through the Poetic Edda and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, compiled in Iceland in the thirteenth century, where he appears as god of poetry, wisdom, war and the dead.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Damon
DAY-mun
Standard in American English, stress on the first syllable. A classical DAM-un (rhyming with 'salmon') is heard when the ancient Greek figure is meant, but the name as given to children is DAY-mun.
- Day — Informal, family-level shortening; rarely written down.
- Dame — Informal, mostly used among friends and on sports teams.
- D — Initial used as an address form, common in American informal speech.
Odin
OH-din
Standard American English gives it two syllables with the stress up front. In Icelandic, Óðinn has a soft 'th' in the middle — closer to OH-thin — which is worth knowing but not what you will hear at school.
- Odie — The most common informal short form in English; also spelled Ody.
- Od — Family-level shortening, rarely used outside the house.
- Din — Occasional clipping of the second syllable.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Damon if you want…
- a long American recordDamon was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Odin if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsOdin is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalOdin entered the US charts in 1884
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Damon
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, with no accents and no competing common variants to correct.
- An unbroken written record from classical Greek through Latin and into English poetry.
- Identical spelling works in French, German and Dutch; Damián and Damiano are close relatives elsewhere.
To consider
- It sits one letter away from 'daemon' and close in sound to 'demon' — most people never make the connection, but some children will hear the joke at least once.
- Damon and Damian are constantly swapped by people who half-remember which one they were told. Expect to repeat it.
- Strongly represented among Americans now in their forties, so it may read as belonging to a particular generation rather than as antique or brand new — a trade-off that also means it is well known and easy to say.
Odin
Strengths
- Spelled exactly as it sounds, and short enough that a child can write it early.
- Recognized on sight across the English-speaking world and all of Scandinavia, in the same spelling.
- A documented record stretching back to medieval Icelandic manuscripts and, before that, to Germanic religion.
To consider
- The name does not travel alone. Every introduction carries the god with it, and since the Marvel films most Americans meet Odin as a character first — expect comments, some of them the same comment, for years.
- The myth itself is heavy in places: Odin is a god of war and of the dead as much as of poetry. That reads as depth to some families and as a lot to hand a newborn for others.
- Its wave among American children is very recent, so it currently sounds contemporary rather than inherited, and most people who share the name are young.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Damon and Odin in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Hero and god names for boys
- Scandinavian names, cool by design
- Norse mythology names
- Names ending in -in
- all guides
Where Damon and Odin each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Damon or Odin — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Damon or Odin?
- They tie in 2025: Damon ranked #501 with 604 babies; Odin ranked #501 with 604 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Damon or Odin?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Damon moved down 71 places; Odin moved down 170 places.
- Which is the older name, Damon or Odin?
- Damon was already in use when US records began in 1880; Odin entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Damon is the older name.
- How many people are named Damon and Odin?
- About 62,500 people named Damon are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,000 people named Odin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Damons or Odins in the classroom?
- Damon will almost certainly be the only one in school. Odin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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