Otis

Where Otis comes from

A patronymic surname derived from Middle English genitive case of the Germanic given name Ote, Ode, cognate to modern Otto.
— Wiktionary's entry for Otis
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #154 among boys — 88 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1899
    Peak, #94
    185 babies named Otis — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1932
    Otis Davis born
    American sprinter
  4. 1941
    Otis Redding born
    American singer and songwriter
  5. 1999
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,395.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages, transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Otis Redding · American singer and songwriter, 1941–1967
  • Otis Davis · American sprinter, 1932–2024
  • Otis Rush · American musician, 1935–2018
  • Otis Harris · American athletics competitor, born 1982
  • Otis Spann · American Chicago blues pianist, 1930–1970

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.