Ottessa

Variation of Atossa, Greek from Persian

"bestowing very richly, well trickling, well granting"

Ottessa Origin and Meaning

The name Ottessa is a girl's name meaning "bestowing very richly, well trickling, well granting".

Author Ottessa Moshfegh is one of the few to bear her name — a rare variation of the ancient name Atossa, rather than Odessa (as many think). The historical Atossa was a character not unlike one in a Moshfegh novel — born into nobility and initially married to her brother, Atossa later became a powerful wife of Darius I. Atossa had a bleeding tumor removed from her breast in the first documented case of mastitis.

Moshfegh's mother is Croatian and her father has Persian Jewish ancestry. She has a dog name Jewelry.