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Why was Odin also called Wodan, Woden, and Wotan?

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Germanic religion and mythology Battle scenes and ships depicted on a memorial stone from Gotland, Sweden, late 8th century. In the third panel from the top, a warrior is being hanged in a tree as a sacrifice to Odin, whose cult is represented by an eagle and a twisted knot.

The names Wodan, Woden, and Wotan are linguistic variations of the same deity, reflecting the evolution and regional differences of the name across Germanic cultures. These names derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic form Wōðanaz.1

While "Odin" is the name used in Old Norse traditions, "Wodan," "Woden," and "Wotan" represent the same sovereign god as he was known in other Germanic contexts, including among the Anglo-Saxons and continental Germanic tribes. This deity was historically regarded as a divine founder by various Germanic dynasties. The connection between these names is further illustrated by the etymology of "Wednesday," which translates to "day of Woden," corresponding to the Latin Mercurii dies (day of Mercury), as Roman writers often identified this Germanic god with the Roman deity Mercury.12