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I think it sounds cool, but it happens to be the name of a Ukrainian city. In general I like names taken from very obscure and lesser-known cities (including Odessa), but place names are becoming very trendy nowadays. I think that a name like Odessa is much more appealing than a named like London, though, just because most of the population isn't that knowledgeble about it.

Prefer Ophelia. It's a personal thing probably, I don't like names ending in '-essa', such as Tessa or Vanessa. Yuck.

So that's where the Spanish word 'odiar' comes from!

I feel the same way, I'm generally anti-place names but can't help but love Odessa. I tend to just concentrate on the fact that it can also be a feminisation of Odysseus.

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If the meaning bugs you a lot, you might like Nessa, Vanessa, Alessa, Tess(a) or Agnessa instead.

Most people don't care at all about the meaning and never find out about it. To me, if you like the name and it's history and associations, then that is more important than the meaning. For example, most people would think of the famous bearers of Elizabeth before it's meaning "my oath is God".

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Odessa is pretty.