Odyssey
Feminine · “a long wandering journey”
Odyssey is given to both — 734 girls and 41 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
The Odyssey is a poem about getting home, and the word has left the poem entirely: an odyssey now means any long, difficult, transforming journey. As a name it belongs to a small American group of words that describe a life rather than a person, alongside Journey and Destiny.
How old is the name Odyssey?
Odyssey first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Odyssey alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 700 people named Odyssey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Odyssey most popular?
Odyssey peaked in 2022, reaching #3827 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 1,051 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Odysseus to Odyssey
The story of Odyssey
Homer's poem follows a man ten years getting home from a war that itself took ten years, and it is the older of the two great Greek epics in the popularity of its afterlife: every story about a long journey home is measured against it. English made the title a word in the sixteenth century. Word-names of this kind, describing an experience rather than a quality, became an American category in the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, and Odyssey belongs there, along with Journey, Legend and Story.
Meaning
a long wandering journey
Greek Odysseia, the poem about Odysseus, whose own name Homer connects with a verb about giving and receiving pain. English took the title as a common noun in the sixteenth century, and that is the sense the name carries.
How the name formed
- Odysseus
- Odysseia
- odyssey
- Odyssey
Related forms: Ὀδύσσεια · Odisea
Pronouncing Odyssey
OD-ih-see
Three syllables, stress in front. There is no other reading in English.
Nicknames for Odyssey
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 202239 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3827reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +8.0%27 in 2025, from 25
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.
Odyssey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ὀδύσσεια in Greek — transliteration
- Odisea in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, California.
Odysseys among us
people named Odyssey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Odyssey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jowanna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Odyssey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jowanna climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jowanna's path sketches the road Odyssey is walking now.
Odyssey sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Odyssey is headed
Odyssey should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Odyssey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Odyssey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is one of the best-known words in English and needs no explaining.
- Odie works as a warm short form for a very long name.
- It carries a documented literary source running back nearly three thousand years.
- It is a word in ordinary use, so the child hears her own name in unrelated sentences.
- It is also a well-known minivan, which will be mentioned.
- Word-names of this scale are read as a statement, and not every reader reads it kindly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Odyssey to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Odyssey? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Odyssey
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Odysseys 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 Odyssey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Odyssey in 2025?
- Odyssey ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Odyssey?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Odyssey — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Odyssey with classmates?
- Odyssey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Odyssey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maribelle#4878 · Evangelia#4878 · Pari#4878 · Zoraya#4878 · Saba#4878 · Chyna#4878 · Kamry#4878 · Zana#4878
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Odyssey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Odyssey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle