Odessa
Feminine
Odessa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 18,564 girls against 154 boys since 1880.
Odessa came into American use as a place carried in the mouth — the great Black Sea port founded under Catherine the Great in the 1790s, and later the Texas railroad town named after it. It has been on the American record for well over a century, thinning and returning without ever quite disappearing. Three even syllables, weight on the middle one.
How old is the name Odessa?
Odessa was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Odessa alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 6,800 people named Odessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Odessa most popular?
Odessa peaked in 1908, reaching #278 nationally. Today it ranks #1192, 914 places below that high. See the whole 1908 chart.
Odessa appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Odessos to Odessa
The story of Odessa
Odessa is a map name before it is a person's name. Catherine the Great's new port on the Black Sea was named in 1795 after Odessos, a Greek colony believed to have occupied the site — archaeologists later placed Odessos at what is now Varna, in Bulgaria, but the name stayed on the Ukrainian coast with a Latin-style feminine ending. In the later nineteenth century the word traveled twice into American life: as the home city of large waves of emigrants, and as the name of a West Texas town on the railroad. American parents took it up from there, which is why Odessa shows up on the US charts as a given name without any European tradition of using it that way.
Meaningnot established
Not established
As a given name, Odessa is the city name. The city was christened in 1795 after Odessos, an ancient Greek settlement thought at the time to have stood nearby; the meaning of that older place-name is not established, and it is likely pre-Greek. The frequently repeated link to Odysseus and 'long journey' is a modern association rather than a documented etymology — the two names are not connected in the linguistic record.
How the name formed
- Odessos
- Odessa
- Odesa
Related forms: Odesa · Одесса · Odessos · Odessa
Pronouncing Odessa
oh-DESS-uh
Stress falls firmly on the middle syllable. In quick American speech the first syllable often flattens to uh-DESS-uh; both are ordinary.
Nicknames for Odessa
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1924462 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #278reached in 1908
- Change vs 2022
- +67.8%193 in 2025, from 115
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.
Odessa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Odesa in Ukrainian — spelling variant
- Одесса in Russian — transliteration
- Odessos in Ancient Greek — related form
- Odessa in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Pennsylvania, Washington.
Odessas among us
people named Odessa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 8,328 born in 2025 was named Odessa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Odessa is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Odessa is headed
Odessa should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Odessa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Odessa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling is already on maps and in atlases, so most people write it correctly the first time.
- Reads exactly as it looks for English speakers — no silent letters, no ambiguous vowels.
- Several short forms in real use, including Dessa, which stands alone as a name.
- An unbroken run in American records stretching back well over a century, so it is vintage rather than newly coined.
- Pronounceable in Russian, Ukrainian, French, Spanish and Italian with barely any adjustment.
- Since 2022 the Ukrainian city has been in the news under attack. For many people the name now carries that immediately — a weighty association rather than a bad one, but worth expecting in conversation.
- Frederick Forsyth's 1972 thriller The Odessa File attached the word to an alleged postwar Nazi escape network. The reference has faded, but older readers may still make it.
- Expect the question 'like the city?' for life, and a share of people who assume a family connection to Ukraine or to Texas.
- The name is still most strongly represented among the oldest generations, so a child called Odessa may be the only one anyone in the room has met.
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What they receive
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Odessa
Feminine · #1192 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Odessas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,800 people named Odessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Odessa in 2025?
- Odessa ranks #1192 among US girl names in 2025, with 193 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Odessa?
- About 1 in every 8,328 US girls born in 2025 was named Odessa — 193 in all.
- Will my child share the name Odessa with classmates?
- Odessa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Odessa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maite#1192 · Angelique#1192 · Nori#1192 · Gitty#1192 · Aliah#1192 · Keily#1190 · Kaisley#1190 · Evangelina#1186
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Odessa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Odessa and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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