Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants Audo, Odo, Udo) of Germanic names beginning in aud-, an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded from the 7th century (Odo, son of Uro, courtier of Sigebert III). It was the name of three 10th-century German kings, the first of whom was Otto I the Great, the first Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the Ottonian dynasty.
The Gothic form of the prefix was auda- (as in e.g. Audaþius), the Anglo-Saxon form was ead- (as in e.g. Eadmund), and the Old Norse form was auð-.
Due to Otto von Bismarck, the given name Otto was strongly associated with the German Empire in the later 19th century. It was comparatively frequently given in the United States (presumably in German American families) during the 1880s to 1890s, remaining in the top 100 most popular masculine given names in the US throughout 1880–1898, but its popularity decreased significantly after 1900 with increasing anti-German sentiment leading up to World War I; it fell below rank 200 in 1919, below rank 500 in 1947, and below rank 1000 in 1975. It re-entered the top-1000 most popular given names in the US in the 2010s, ranking 696th as of 2013.
The given name Otis arose from an English surname, which was in turn derived from Ode, a variant form of Odo, Otto.
Contents
People
Medieval period
Otto (mayor of the palace) (died 643 or 644), mayor of the palace of Austrasia briefly in the mid-7th century
Otto I, Duke of Saxony (851–912)
Otto the Great (912–973), East Frankish king and Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (955–983)
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (980–1002)
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1175/1176–1218)
Otto, Count of Cleves (1278–1310)
Otto, Count of Lippe-Brake (1589–1657)
Otto, Duke of Lolland and Estonia (1310–1346)
Otto, Count of Looz (fl. 980-1000)
Otto, Count of Vermandois (979–1045)
Otto, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1594–1617)
Otto, Lord of Arkel (1330–1396)
Otto, Lord of Lippe (1300–1360)
Otto, Margrave of the Nordmark (died 1057)
Otto of Bamberg (1060/1061–1139), bishop and Catholic saint
Otto of Freising (c. 1114–1158), bishop and chronicler
Modern era
Otto of Greece (1815–1867), King of Greece
Otto, King of Bavaria (1848–1916), King of Bavaria
Otto Adler (1929–2014), president of the Jewish Association of Romania
Otto T. Bannard (1854–1929), American attorney, businessman and philanthropist
Otto Barić (1933–2020), Croatian footballer and manager
Otto Barth (artist) (1876–1916), Austrian artist
Otto Barth (general) (1891–1963), German general
Otto Brandenburg (1934–2007), Danish musician, singer and actor
Otto Carius (1922–2015), German tank ace and pharmacist
Otto Dickel (1880–1944), German politician
Otto Diels (1876–1954), German chemist
Otto Dix (1891–1969), German painter and printmaker
Otto Dowling (1881–1946), governor of American Samoa
Otto Eloluoto (born 2008), Finnish footballer
Otto Fahlgren (born 2001), Swedish actor
Otto Farrant (born 1996), British actor
Otto Fischer (footballer) (1901–1941), Austrian football player and coach
Fictional characters
Otto Anderson, protagonist of the 2022 film A Man Called Otto, played by Tom Hanks
Otto Delaney, in the television series Sons of Anarchy
Herr Otto Flick, in the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
Otto Hightower, in the television series House of the Dragon
Otto Maddox, the main character in the 1984 film Repo Man
Otto Malpense, the main character in the H.I.V.E. series by Mark Walden
Otto Mann, in the animated television series The Simpsons
Otto Octavius, Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Octopus
Jake, Jeremiah, and Troy Otto, in the television series Fear the Walking Dead
Oswald "Otto" Rocket, the main character of Nickelodeon's Rocket Power
Otto Osworth, the main character of Cartoon Network's Time Squad
Otto Suwen, in the anime/manga series Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
Otto, the inflatable "auto" pilot in the 1980 comedy film Airplane!
Otto West, the main antagonist in the 1988 heist comedy A Fish Called Wanda
Otto, one of the main Minions in the 2022 animated comedy film Minions: The Rise of Gru
