Thao
A feminine Vietnamese name meaning "precious gem" or "jadeite".
Name Census estimates that about 1,180 living Americans carry the first name Thao. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Thao today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thao births was 1984 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thao. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 290,470 Americans
Peak year
1984
73 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1999 SSA rank
#11,441
Tracked since 1975
Gender
Gender distribution for Thao
Thao leans heavily female at 84.4% of total registrations, but 192 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Thao as a male name
- Ranked #11,441 in 1999
- 5 male births in 1999
- Peak: 1989 (16 births)
Thao as a female name
- Ranked #18,210 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 1984 (58 births)
Popularity
Thao: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thao from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 532 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thao 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 Thao during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thaos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Thao, while Washington, Minnesota, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 82 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thao
The name Thao has its roots in the Vietnamese language and culture. It is believed to have originated during the medieval period in Vietnam, possibly as early as the 12th century.
Thao is derived from the Vietnamese word "thảo," which means "grass" or "plant." In ancient Vietnamese culture, names were often inspired by natural elements, reflecting the close connection between the people and their environment.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Thao can be found in the "Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư" (Complete Annals of Đại Việt), a historical text compiled in the 15th century. This text mentions a woman named Thao who lived during the Lý Dynasty (1009–1225).
In the 13th century, a famous Vietnamese general named Trần Hưng Đạo (1228–1300) had a wife named Phạm Thị Thao. She played a significant role in supporting her husband's military campaigns against the Mongol invasions.
Another notable figure named Thao was Nguyễn Thị Thao (1839–1917), a Vietnamese patriot and leader of the Đồng Khánh Scholars' Revolt against French colonial rule in the late 19th century.
In the 20th century, Võ Thị Thao (1907–1985) was a prominent Vietnamese writer and poet, known for her works that explored the themes of love, nature, and national identity.
More recently, Lê Thị Thao (born 1984) is a Vietnamese badminton player who has won multiple international titles, including the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games.
While the name Thao has its roots in Vietnam, it has also been adopted in other Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand and Laos, where it may have slightly different meanings or variations in spelling.
People
Thao + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thao 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
Thao: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thao?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,180 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thao 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 290,470 US residents.
Is Thao a common name?
We classify Thao as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,232 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thao most popular?
The single biggest year for Thao was 1984, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thao is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Thao a female name?
Yes, 84.4% of people registered as Thao in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.