Otto
A Germanic surname from an old personal name meaning “wealth” or “prosperity,” also later used as a short form of related names.
The #1,587 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,687 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Otto comes from an old Germanic personal name built on a root meaning “wealth,” “prosperity,” or “good fortune.” Historical writers linked it with Old High German and related forms such as Odo and Otho, and in some cases treated it as a short form of longer names beginning Ot- or Od-. In English surname use, it often reflects descent from or association with a bearer of the given name Otto/Odo.
History
The name was well established in medieval German-speaking areas and also appears in English records, likely through Norman and continental influence. In surname form, Otto could mark someone as the son or descendant of a man named Otto/Odo. By the 19th century, reference works still treated it as a recognizable Germanic surname and personal name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers grouped Otto with Oates and other names they thought shared the same old Germanic root.
From the historical record
“' I weal] 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 lenge mezzen. — Walther von der Vogel-…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Otto
- Nicolaus Otto (1832–1891)
- Frei Otto (1925–2015)
- Miranda Otto (b. 1967)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.