Thadeus
A masculine given name derived from a Greek name meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 780 living Americans carry the first name Thadeus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thadeus today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thadeus births was 1918 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thadeus. 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.
People living today
780
~ 1 in 439,429 Americans
Peak year
1918
27 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,156
Tracked since 1912
Census
Thadeus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 853 people with the first name Thadeus, which placed it at #13,969 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,969
National first-name rank
People counted
853
853 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thadeus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thadeus is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Thadeus described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Thadeus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.8% · 553
- Black or African American19.6% · 167
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 57
- Two or more races5.6% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Thadeus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thadeus from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 173 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thadeus 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 Thadeus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thadeus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Thadeus, while Wisconsin, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thadeus
The name Thadeus has its origins in the ancient Greek language, where it was derived from the word "Thadhaios," meaning "courageous one" or "gift of God." This name gained popularity during the early Christian era, particularly in the Mediterranean region.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Thadeus can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, where it refers to one of the twelve apostles, also known as Jude the Apostle. This association with a biblical figure contributed to the name's widespread use among early Christian communities.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the name Thadeus underwent various spelling variations, including Thaddeus, Taddeo, and Tadeo. These variations were influenced by the linguistic nuances of different regions, such as Latin, Italian, and Spanish.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Thadeus include Thadeus of Suessa (1070-1135), an Italian philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the field of metaphysics. Another prominent individual was Thadeus Kosciuszko (1746-1817), a Polish military leader and national hero who played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War and the Polish uprising against Russian rule.
In the realm of literature, Thadeus was the name of a character in the epic poem "Pan Tadeusz" by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), a celebrated Polish writer and poet. This literary work became a national symbol of Polish culture and identity.
Other notable individuals named Thadeus include Thadeus Reichstein (1897-1996), a Swiss chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for his work on cortisone and other adrenal hormone compounds. Thadeus Zielinski (1859-1944) was a Polish classical scholar and academic known for his contributions to the study of ancient Greek and Roman literature.
Throughout history, the name Thadeus has been associated with individuals known for their courage, faith, and intellectual pursuits. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, it remains a name with a rich cultural heritage and a connection to various historical figures and literary works.
People
Thadeus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thadeus 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
Thadeus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thadeus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 780 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thadeus 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 439,429 US residents.
Is Thadeus a common name?
We classify Thadeus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thadeus most popular?
The single biggest year for Thadeus was 1918, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thadeus is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thadeus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 853 people with the name Thadeus, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,969 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Thadeus in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Thadeus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thadeus appears almost entirely male. Of the 852 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Thadeus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thadeus is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (19.6%) and Hispanic (6.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Thadeus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thadeus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.8% (553 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Thadeus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thadeus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thadeus 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 Thadeus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thadeus 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 Thadeus 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.
How many people share the name Thadeus?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.