Humanverse

Otha vs Othman

American parents have registered 7,789 Othas since 1880, against 536 Othmans. But in 2025 it was Othman that was commoner, 34 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Otha against Othman, 1880 to 2025 0 50 100 150 200 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Otha Othman

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 145 years in which either name was published, Otha for 118 years and Othman for 27 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Otha Othman
Total US births 7,789536
Most in one year 18046
Babies in 2025 under 534
Estimated living today 2,500530
Median age today 699
Peak year 19202022
Best rank 516th boys2,793rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked3,379th
First recorded 18801977
Girls / boys 1,403 / 6,3860 / 536

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 Othas alive today are over 69; half the Othmans are over 9. That is 60 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Otha and Othman.