Odessia
Feminine · “From Odessa”
Odessia is a name from the turn of the twentieth century that lengthens Odessa, the Black Sea port founded by Catherine the Great. The city's great stone staircase is the setting of the most famous scene in silent film.
How old is the name Odessia?
Odessia first appears in US birth records in 1901 — 124 years ago. The typical Odessia alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 200 people named Odessia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Odessia most popular?
Odessia peaked in 1901, reaching #1466 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Where it comes from
From Odessos to Odessia
The story of Odessia
When Catherine the Great founded a new port on the Black Sea in the 1790s, it was named Odessa after Odessos, an ancient Greek colony believed to have stood nearby, and the name was made feminine, it is said, at the empress's wish. In 1925 Sergei Eisenstein filmed the massacre on the city's great staircase for Battleship Potemkin, with a baby carriage bouncing down the steps, and the sequence has been studied and imitated ever since. Odessa and Odessia were given to American girls at the end of the nineteenth century.
Meaning
From Odessa, the Black Sea city
Odessa was named in 1795 after the ancient Greek colony Odessos, given a feminine ending.
How the name formed
- Odessos
- Odessa
- Odessia
Related forms: Odessa · Odesa
Pronouncing Odessia
oh-DESS-ee-uh
Four syllables with the stress on the second.
Nicknames for Odessia
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
- 1901
- Most girls named
- 192225 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1466reached in 1901
- Change vs 1960
- −37.5%5 in 1975, from 8
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.
Odessia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Odessa in English — related form
- Odesa in Ukrainian — related form
Odessias among us
people named Odessia 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
Odessia 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
- Tied to a real city with a rich history.
- Comes with Dessa as a ready short form.
- Almost certain to be the only one.
- People will write Odessa.
- The city is now often in the news, which some families weigh.
- It reads as an older name.
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What they receive
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Odessia
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Odessias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Odessia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Odessia in 2025?
- Odessia is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Odessia with classmates?
- Odessia 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 Odessia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Odessia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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