Otte
A short surname that usually comes from a medieval pet form of Otto or other names based on the old Germanic root for “wealth” or “fortune.”
The #7,572 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,377 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Otte is generally treated as a shortened or diminutive form of medieval names such as Otto, Odo, or related Old Germanic forms. Those names go back to the Germanic root seen in Old High German and Old Saxon words for “wealth” or “prosperity,” so the basic sense is something like “rich” or “fortunate.” In some traditions it may also be a nickname form rather than a direct patronymic, but the underlying personal-name source is the same.
History
The name appears in northern European naming traditions, especially German, Dutch, Frisian, and Scandinavian contexts, and was later taken into English surname use. Nineteenth-century surname writers often grouped Otte with Otto, Ott, and Oates as part of the same broader family of names. Because it is short and widespread, it can reflect several overlapping medieval naming habits rather than a single fixed origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same old naming root behind Otte also helped produce the much better-known given name Otto.
From the historical record
“OTTO (Teut.) Prosperity, Wealth [Teut. Otto (Otte),0tho,0do, t.O.H.Ger. o/ = O.Sax. 6d = O.N. au'S-'r (occ. conf. with odd-r, a spear) = O.E. edd, prosperity, wealth, etc.; sometimes intended as a dim. of an Ot-, Od-, etc., name] Ich wolt hern Otten milte nach der”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)