Ottis
Masculine · “wealth”
Ottis is given to both — 4,473 boys and 174 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Ottis doubles the t in Otis, which is what nineteenth-century American spelling did routinely with short names — Ottis, Willis, Ellis, Otto. The name underneath is Germanic and about wealth. Its American peak is 1903, which places it firmly in the era before the singer Otis Redding gave the single-t spelling its modern association.
How old is the name Ottis?
Ottis was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ottis alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 1,300 people named Ottis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ottis most popular?
Ottis peaked in 1903, reaching #451 nationally. Today it ranks #5861, 5,410 places below that high. See the whole 1903 chart.
Where it comes from
From aud to Ottis
The story of Ottis
Ode and Otes were ordinary Norman names in England after 1066 and produced the surnames Otis, Oates and Ottey. Otis crossed to America early and became a New England surname of some standing; James Otis was a leading Massachusetts patriot before the Revolution, and Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator, which put the surname on lift plates worldwide. Its use as a given name follows the American surname habit of the nineteenth century, and the doubled-t spelling belongs to the same period, when American orthography for names was much less standardized than it later became. Otis Redding, born in 1941, gave the single-t spelling a strong second life.
Meaning
wealth, riches
The Germanic element aud or od means wealth, prosperity and inherited property, and it gives the names Otto, Odo, Otis and the first half of Audrey. Otis reached English as a surname, formed from the medieval given name Ode or Otes, which is the Norman form of the same element. So the name is a surname built on a personal name built on a word for wealth. The derivation is settled at each step.
How the name formed
- aud
- Ode
- Otis
- Ottis
Related forms: Otis · Otto · Odo
Pronouncing Ottis
OH-tiss
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long o. Identical to Otis; the doubled t changes nothing about the sound, though it may invite a shorter first vowel from readers seeing it cold.
Nicknames for Ottis
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1921115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #451reached in 1903
- Change vs 2022
- +7.1%15 in 2025, from 14
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.
Ottis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Otis in English — spelling variant
- Otto in German — related form
- Odo in French — related form
Ottiss among us
people named Ottis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was named Ottis
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ottis
- #5861
- Ottis on the 2025 chart
- #541
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ottis went to 15 boys in 2025, but Otis is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 437, which makes it the 541st most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,320 places above the chart.
- Otis422
- Ottis15
About 1 boy in 3,909 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 113,872 for Ottis itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ottis 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
Ottis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ottis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single positive word with a clean Germanic derivation.
- The sound is familiar through Otis, so only the spelling is unusual.
- It has a documented nineteenth-century American history.
- Otis is far the more common spelling and hers will be written that way.
- The doubled t may pull the first vowel short for readers meeting it cold.
- Its American curve is turn-of-the-century, which places a bearer's generation.
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Ottis
Masculine · #5861 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ottiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Ottis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ottis?
- Ottis is one of 2 recorded spellings. Otis is the more common one — 422 births in 2025 against 15 for Ottis.
- How popular is the name Ottis in 2025?
- Ottis ranks #5861 among US boy names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ottis?
- About 1 in every 113,872 US boys born in 2025 was named Ottis — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ottis with classmates?
- Ottis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ottis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eber#5861 · Wilton#5861 · Ruby#5861 · Stacy#5861 · Garner#5861 · Caldwell#5861 · Severin#5861 · Newton#5861
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ottis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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