Humanverse

Odysseus vs Odyssey

American parents have registered 775 Odysseys since 1880, against 526 Odysseuses. But in 2025 it was Odysseus that was commoner, 44 babies to 35.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Odysseus against Odyssey, 1880 to 2025 0 13 25 38 50 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Odysseus Odyssey

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 43 years in which either name was published, Odyssey for 33 years and Odysseus for 10 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.

Side by side

  Odysseus Odyssey
Total US births 526775
Most in one year 4446
Babies in 2025 4435
Estimated living today 520770
Median age today 613
Peak year 20252022
Best rank 2,833rd boys3,827th girls
Rank in 2025 2,833rd4,878th
First recorded 19991982
Girls / boys 0 / 526734 / 41

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 Odysseys alive today are over 13; half the Odysseuses are over 6. That is 7 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

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