The surname Otto
A German surname, carried by 22,558 people in the United States.
Pronounced /ˈɑtoʊ/ 2 syllables Soundex O300 Also a first name
Origin
German origin
Borrowed from German Otto, from Old High German, short form of compound names (such as Otachar, Ottokar) beginning with Proto-West Germanic *aud, from Proto-Germanic *audaz (“wealth, riches”) (cognate of English Ed- in Edgar, Edmund, Edward, Edith, etc.).
One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.
Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How common it is
2010 US Census
There were 22,558 people named Otto in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,687 Americans. That is up 2.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 22,001.
Who is named Otto
Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census
93% of people named Otto identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.1% as Black (not Hispanic).
- White (not Hispanic) 93%
- Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
- Black (not Hispanic) 2.1%
- Two or more races 1.2%
- Asian and Pacific Islander 1.2%
- American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Famous Ottos
11 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first
- Miranda OttoAustralian actress, born 1967
- John OttoAmerican drummer, born 1977
- Louise Otto-Peters19th-century German feminist, poet, and writer, editor, 1819–1895
- Barry OttoAustralian actor and artist, born 1941
- Henry OttoAmerican silent film actor and director (1877-1952)
- Joel OttoAmerican ice hockey player, born 1961
- Ansger OttoAmerican soccer player, born 1989
- Gracie OttoAustralian actress, film producer, writer, and film director, born 1987
- John Ernest Otto Jr.Acting FBI director, 1938–2020
- Jim OttoAmerican football player (1938–2024)
- James OttoAmerican musician, born 1973
Notable Ottos come mostly from the United States (7), Australia (3) and Kingdom of Saxony (1).
Spellings and sound-alikes
Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling
Otto has the Soundex code O300, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code O300.
Other German surnames
Questions
- Where does the surname Otto come from?
- Borrowed from German Otto, from Old High German, short form of compound names (such as Otachar, Ottokar) beginning with Proto-West Germanic *aud, from Proto-Germanic *audaz (“wealth, riches”) (cognate of English Ed- in Edgar, Edmund, Edward, Edith, etc.).
- How common is the surname Otto?
- 22,558 people in the United States had the surname Otto in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,687 Americans. It ranked 1,587th of 162,253 surnames.
- What ethnicity is the surname Otto?
- In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Otto identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
- Who is the most famous person named Otto?
- Miranda Otto, Australian actress, followed by John Otto.
- Where is the surname Otto most common?
- Wikidata records people named Otto in the United States, Australia and Kingdom of Saxony.
- How do you pronounce Otto?
- Otto is /ˈɑtoʊ/, 2 syllables.
- Is the surname Otto getting more or less common?
- More common. 22,001 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 22,558 in 2010, up 2.5%.
- Is Otto also a first name?
- Yes. Otto is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.