Thea
Feminine form of the Greek name Theodora, meaning "divine gift".
Name Census estimates that about 17,363 living Americans carry the first name Thea. It sits at #348 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Thea today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thea births was 2018 (1,208 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thea. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Thea with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,741 Americans
Peak year
2018
1,208 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
1924 SSA rank
#348
Tracked since 1880
Census
Thea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,410 people with the first name Thea, which placed it at #2,035 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
#2,035
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thea is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Thea 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 Thea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.0% · 9,784
- Black or African American7.1% · 950
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.0% · 942
- Two or more races6.6% · 886
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 736
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 112
Gender
Gender distribution for Thea
Out of the 19,242 babies given the name Thea since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Thea as a male name
- Ranked #4,891 in 1924
- 5 male births in 1924
- Peak: 1924 (5 births)
Thea as a female name
- Ranked #348 in 2024
- 893 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (1,208 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thea appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,402 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Thea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thea from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,406 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Thea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thea 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 Thea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Theas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Thea, while Delaware, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 279 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thea
The name Thea has its origins in Greek mythology and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "theos," meaning "god" or "divine." The name was originally used to refer to female deities or goddesses in Greek mythology.
In ancient Greek texts, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the term "thea" was often used to address or describe powerful female figures like Hera, the queen of the gods, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare. The name carried a sense of reverence and respect for the divine feminine energy.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Thea dates back to the 5th century BC, when it was borne by Thea of Lemnos, a Greek woman who was said to have been the first to establish a temple dedicated to the goddess Cybele. Thea was also the name of a Greek poetess who lived in the 3rd century BC and was renowned for her elegiac poetry.
Throughout history, the name Thea has been carried by several notable individuals. In the 4th century AD, Thea of Alexandria was a philosopher and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of astronomy and mathematics in ancient Egypt. During the Byzantine era, Thea Porphyrogenita (1054-1092) was a princess and the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos.
In the realm of literature, Thea Musgrave (born 1928) is a renowned Scottish composer and conductor who has written numerous operas, orchestral works, and chamber pieces. Thea von Harbou (1888-1954) was a German author and screenwriter best known for her collaborations with the legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang, including the classic science-fiction film "Metropolis."
Another prominent figure named Thea was Thea Astley (1925-2004), an Australian novelist and short story writer who won multiple literary awards, including the prestigious Patrick White Award. Thea Sharrock (born 1976) is a British theatre and film director who has directed acclaimed productions on both stage and screen.
While the name Thea has ancient roots in Greek culture, its enduring appeal and versatility have allowed it to transcend time and be embraced by various cultures and societies throughout history, making it a timeless and evocative choice.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Thea
People
Thea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thea 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
Thea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,363 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thea 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 19,741 US residents.
Is Thea a common name?
We classify Thea as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,242 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thea most popular?
The single biggest year for Thea was 2018, when 1,208 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thea is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,410 people with the name Thea, or 4.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,035 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 Thea 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 Thea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thea appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,402 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Thea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thea is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%). 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 Thea most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.0% (9,784 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 Thea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thea 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.
Is Thea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thea 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 Thea 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 have Thea as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.