Odella vs Odessie
American parents have registered 828 Odellas since 1880, against 597 Odessies. Odella is still ahead, with 7 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Odella Odessie
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 67 years in which either name was published, Odella for 48 years and Odessie for 19 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.
- 1900–1902 Odessie ahead
- 1905–1921 Odella ahead, apart from 2 short spells
- 1922–1929 Odessie ahead
- 1935–2025 Odella ahead, apart from one short spell
13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Odella | Odessie | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 828 | 597 |
| Most in one year | 35 | 32 |
| Babies in 2025 | 7 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 190 | 50 |
| Median age today | 74 | 88 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1923 |
| Best rank | 1,297th girls | 1,428th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 11,932nd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1897 | 1897 |
| Girls / boys | 828 / 0 | 597 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Odessies alive today are over 88; half the Odellas are over 74. That is 14 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Odella and Odessie.