His name and that of his brother Ludolfe show a Germanic ancestry of the kings of the family of Saxony, which is indeed the case, as his mother is Gerberge of Lorraine, niece of Emperor Otto I (her mother being daughter to Henry the Fowler).
He was reported as a quarrelsome lord who threatened Hainaut and Cambrésis (the region around Cambrai).
In 971, an Otto erected a fortress in Warcq, Ardennes, and attacked his neighbors, including Adalbero, Archbishop of Reims.
It is possible that she was from Ardennes, a relative of Wigeric of Lotharingia and Cunigunda of France, granddaughter of Louis the Stammerer.
This could explain the name of his son and the appointment of the latter as Count of Verdun in 1024.