Head to head · Boys' names
Odin vs Royce
#501 vs #499 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Royce is a whisker ahead (#499 vs #501 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name 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, Royce leads 4 measures of 6; Odin leads 1.
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: Odin #848, Royce — — Odin higher
- 1890s: Odin —, Royce #871 — Royce higher
- 1900s: Odin #1185, Royce #862 — Royce higher
- 1910s: Odin #2179, Royce #615 — Royce higher
- 1920s: Odin #3408, Royce #399 — Royce higher
- 1930s: Odin #3533, Royce #308 — Royce higher
- 1940s: Odin #3331, Royce #335 — Royce higher
- 1950s: Odin —, Royce #390 — Royce higher
- 1960s: Odin #3724, Royce #501 — Royce higher
- 1970s: Odin #4376, Royce #612 — Royce higher
- 1980s: Odin #5115, Royce #641 — Royce higher
- 1990s: Odin #5362, Royce #804 — Royce higher
- 2000s: Odin #1423, Royce #982 — Royce higher
- 2010s: Odin #512, Royce #505 — Royce higher
- 2020s: Odin #388, Royce #436 — Odin higher
Royce stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Odin took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Odin | Royce |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #848 | — |
| 1890s | — | #871 |
| 1900s | #1185 | #862 |
| 1910s | #2179 | #615 |
| 1920s | #3408 | #399 |
| 1930s | #3533 | #308 |
| 1940s | #3331 | #335 |
| 1950s | — | #390 |
| 1960s | #3724 | #501 |
| 1970s | #4376 | #612 |
| 1980s | #5115 | #641 |
| 1990s | #5362 | #804 |
| 2000s | #1423 | #982 |
| 2010s | #512 | #505 |
| 2020s | #388 | #436 |
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
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.
Royce
From the medieval name Royse; the older Germanic elements read roughly as "fame" and "kind, sort"
Two readings compete. The main one traces Royce to the medieval English name Royse, an English form of the Norman Rohese, built from Germanic elements usually given as hrod "fame" and heid "kind, sort". The other treats Royse simply as an early form of Rose, which is how the name was often understood and written in England by the later Middle Ages. Both roads pass through the same medieval name, so the disagreement is about what that name meant, not where Royce came from.
Rohese → Royse → Royce
How it traveled
Royce is a surname before it is a first name, and like Perkins or Watson it comes from a parent's name rather than a trade or a place: the bearer was the child of a Royse. Royse itself was a real medieval English name, an English shaping of Rohese, which the Normans carried into England after the eleventh century and which was in ordinary use there for centuries.
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
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.
Royce
ROYSS
One syllable, rhyming with voice and choice. The final sound is a clean -s, not a -z.
- Roy — The most natural short form, and a long-established given name in its own right, so it reads as a full name rather than a diminutive.
- Ro — Informal, family-and-friends use; rarely written down.
- R.J. — Informal initials, used when the middle name supplies the second letter.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Odin if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsOdin is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itOdin runs 2 syllables, Royce 1
Choose Royce if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesRoyce is 1 syllable to Odin's 2
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
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.
Royce
Strengths
- One syllable, spelled the way it sounds — it survives phone calls, roll call and forms with little trouble.
- Roy works as a ready-made short form and stands on its own as a given name, so there is a formal and an informal option built in.
- In continuous American use across many generations, which means it reads as familiar to adults rather than newly invented.
To consider
- Rolls-Royce is the association most Americans reach for first. It is a pleasant one, but expect the occasional joke about luxury cars, and the pairing gets stronger if your surname is short and grand-sounding.
- In speech it sits close to Bryce, Boyce and Reece, so mishearings happen more often than misspellings do.
- The name traces back through the medieval Royse, which was given to women; in American records Royce is a boys' name and has been throughout. Worth knowing in case an etymology page mentions it.
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 Odin and Royce 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
Still torn between Odin and Royce?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Odin and Royce each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Odin or Royce — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Odin or Royce?
- Royce, in 2025: Royce ranked #499 with 606 babies; Odin ranked #501 with 604 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Odin or Royce?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Odin moved down 170 places; Royce moved down 93 places.
- Which is the older name, Odin or Royce?
- Odin entered the US charts in 1884; Royce entered the US charts in 1892. On the American record, Odin is the older name.
- How many people are named Odin and Royce?
- About 13,000 people named Odin are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 24,000 people named Royce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Odins or Royces in the classroom?
- Odin will almost certainly be the only one in school. Royce 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
Keep playing
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