Thaddues
A masculine Greek name meaning "courageous heart" or "heartfelt".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Thaddues. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thaddues today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thaddues births was 1953 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thaddues. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Thaddues. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
1953
7 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1989 SSA rank
#9,104
Tracked since 1918
Popularity
Thaddues: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thaddues from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Thaddues remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thaddues by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Thaddues during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thaddues
The name Thaddeus is derived from the Aramaic name Thaddai, which itself comes from the Hebrew name Taddai, meaning "praise" or "the praised one". It is believed that this name originated in ancient Judea around the 1st century CE.
The name is closely associated with the apostle Thaddeus, also known as Jude or Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament. He is believed to have been the author of the Epistle of Jude, one of the shortest books in the Bible.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Thaddeus can be found in the apocryphal work known as the Acta Thaddaei, which dates back to the 5th century CE. This work recounts the legend of the apostle Thaddeus and his missionary work in Edessa, modern-day Turkey.
Throughout history, the name has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Thaddeus of Edessa, a 5th-century Syriac bishop and theologian who played a significant role in the spread of Christianity in the region.
In the 12th century, Thaddeus of Suessa was an Italian philosopher and physician who made important contributions to the study of logic and natural philosophy during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance, Thaddeus Andrzej Bonawentura Kościuszko (1746-1817) was a Polish military leader and national hero who led an uprising against the Russian Empire in 1794.
In the 19th century, Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was a prominent American politician and abolitionist who played a crucial role in the abolition of slavery and the reconstruction of the United States after the Civil War.
Another notable figure was Thaddeus Lowe (1832-1913), an American aeronaut and inventor who pioneered the use of balloons for military reconnaissance during the American Civil War.
People
Thaddues + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thaddues as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Thaddues: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thaddues?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thaddues going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Thaddues a common name?
We classify Thaddues as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 55 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thaddues most popular?
The single biggest year for Thaddues was 1953, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thaddues is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Thaddues in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thaddues a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thaddues in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Thaddues still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thaddues in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Thaddues can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Thaddues?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.