Odell
Feminine · “the hill where woad grew”
Odell is given to both — 4,151 girls and 14,883 boys since 1880. See Odell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Odell looks Irish and is not. It is a village in north Bedfordshire, a surname taken from that village, and then an American first name, one of the many English place-surnames that families moved to the front of the name and kept there.
How old is the name Odell?
Odell first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Odell alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. About 700 people named Odell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Odell most popular?
Odell peaked in 1910, reaching #472 nationally. See the whole 1910 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Wahull to Odell
The story of Odell
The village of Odell stands in north Bedfordshire, and the family that held its manor took its name, written Wahull, Wahell and Odell at different dates. The surname crossed the Atlantic and was given as a first name in the American South, then traveled west and north with the families who left it, which is why its strongest states today are not the ones it started in. The apostrophe people insist on adding belongs to a wholly different tradition: an Irish O marks descent from a named ancestor, and there is no ancestor behind this one. Ireland does have O'Dell families, but the name reached Ireland from England rather than the other way about.
Meaning
the hill where woad grew
Old English wad, the plant that gave the blue dye, and hyll, a hill. Early records write the place with a W at the front; the modern O is a later English development, which is why the same root also produced the surname Woodhull.
How the name formed
- Wahull
- Odell
Pronouncing Odell
oh-DEL
Two syllables with the weight at the back. Front-weighted OH-dell is also heard, and the English village is said that way.
Nicknames for Odell
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 1921171 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #472reached in 1910
- Change vs 1971
- −28.6%5 in 2017, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Odells among us
people named Odell are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Odell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Two syllables, five letters, and no sound in it that an English reader has to be taught.
- It works as a surname and as a first name, which suits families that use both.
- The meaning is concrete and documented: a real hill in a real county, named for a plant that was grown there.
- People will write it O'Dell, with an apostrophe it never had, and assume an Irish family behind it.
- The spelling is recorded for girls as well as boys.
- It reads as a name of the early twentieth century rather than a new one.
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What they receive
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Odell
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Odells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Odell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Odell in 2025?
- Odell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Odell with classmates?
- Odell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More O names
The most-given names starting with O, all years combined.
Olivia#1 · Opal#423 · Olive#197 · Olga#3167 · Ollie#2276 · Ora#3712 · Ola#7885 · Ophelia#264
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Odell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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