Thedore
A masculine given name derived from Greek meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 381 living Americans carry the first name Thedore. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thedore today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thedore births was 1929 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thedore. 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
- • The typical person named Thedore is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Thedores were born before 1964.
People living today
381
~ 1 in 899,618 Americans
Peak year
1929
34 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,157
Tracked since 1902
Popularity
Thedore: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thedore from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 242 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thedore 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 Thedore during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thedores live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. North Carolina, Alabama, Florida recorded the most babies named Thedore, while Florida, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thedore
The name Thedore is derived from the Greek name Theodoros, which is composed of the elements "theos" meaning "god" and "doron" meaning "gift." It essentially translates to "gift of God" or "God's gift." The name can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was a popular name among the Greek population.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Thedore is found in the works of ancient Greek historians and philosophers, such as Herodotus and Plutarch. These writers mention individuals bearing the name, indicating its use in classical antiquity.
In the Christian tradition, the name Thedore gained popularity due to its association with several early saints and martyrs. One notable figure was Saint Theodore of Amasea, a Roman soldier who was martyred in the early 4th century AD for refusing to renounce his Christian faith.
During the Byzantine Empire, the name Thedore was widely used among the nobility and ruling classes. Several Byzantine emperors bore the name, including Theodore I Lascaris (reigned 1205-1222) and Theodore II Lascaris (reigned 1254-1258).
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name Thedore maintained its popularity across Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Greek and Byzantine culture. Notable individuals with this name include Theodore of Tarsus (602-690), an Archbishop of Canterbury and a prominent scholar in the 7th century.
In the 19th century, the name Thedore gained recognition through the works of writers and poets. One of the most famous literary figures with this name was Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945), an American novelist and pioneer of the naturalist movement in literature.
Other notable individuals with the name Thedore include Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th President of the United States and a renowned conservationist; Theodore von Kármán (1881-1963), a Hungarian-American mathematician and aerospace engineer; and Theodore Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), better known as Dr. Seuss, the beloved American children's author and illustrator.
People
Thedore + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thedore 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
Thedore: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thedore?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thedore 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 899,618 US residents.
Is Thedore a common name?
We classify Thedore as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thedore most popular?
The single biggest year for Thedore was 1929, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thedore is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Thedore a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thedore 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.
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.