Theia
Feminine name of Greek origin meaning "heavenly" or "goddess of light".
Name Census estimates that about 1,110 living Americans carry the first name Theia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Theia today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Theia births was 2019 (113 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Theia. 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 Theia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Theia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 308,788 Americans
Peak year
2019
113 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,844
Tracked since 1967
Census
Theia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 670 people with the first name Theia, which placed it at #16,725 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
#16,725
National first-name rank
People counted
670
670 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Theia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theia is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.1%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Theia 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 Theia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3% · 397
- Two or more races12.1% · 81
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 78
- Black or African American8.4% · 56
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 6
Popularity
Theia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Theia from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 607 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Theia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Theia 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 Theia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Theias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Theia, while Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Theia
The name Theia has its origins in Greek mythology, deriving from the ancient Greek word 'theia', which translates to 'divine' or 'goddess'. It is the name of the Titan goddess of sight and the shining light of heaven. Theia was one of the twelve children of the primordial deities Ouranos (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth) in Greek cosmogony.
According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod's Theogony, Theia was the mother of the Sun god Helios, the Moon goddess Selene, and the dawn goddess Eos by her brother and consort Hyperion. This genealogy highlights the connection between Theia and celestial bodies, symbolizing her role as the goddess of radiance and illumination.
The earliest recorded use of the name Theia can be traced back to ancient Greek literature, where she was a prominent figure in the pantheon of deities. Her name appears in various texts, including Hesiod's Theogony, Homer's Iliad, and Apollodorus' Bibliotheca, among others.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Theia. One of the earliest known was Theia of Lemnos (c. 640 BCE), an ancient Greek poet and philosopher who is credited with writing the earliest known examples of lyric poetry by a woman in ancient Greece.
Another prominent figure was Theia of Athens (c. 400 BCE), a renowned physician and midwife who made significant contributions to the field of obstetrics and gynecology in ancient Greece. She is said to have written several treatises on women's health and childbirth practices.
In the 5th century CE, Theia of Alexandria was a renowned scholar and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. She is recognized for her work on the calculation of the lunar cycle and her contributions to the development of the Julian calendar.
During the Renaissance period, Theia Renata of Ferrara (1511-1559) was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts. She played a crucial role in the cultural and intellectual life of the Ferrara court, supporting numerous artists, writers, and philosophers of the time.
More recently, Theia Lingria (1902-1992) was a renowned Italian opera singer and actress who performed on stages across Europe and the United States in the early 20th century, renowned for her powerful soprano voice and dramatic performances.
People
Theia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Theia 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
Theia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Theia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Theia 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 308,788 US residents.
Is Theia a common name?
We classify Theia as "Rare". It ranks above 90.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,119 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Theia most popular?
The single biggest year for Theia was 2019, when 113 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Theia is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Theia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 670 people with the name Theia, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,725 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 Theia 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 Theia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Theia appears almost entirely female. Of the 673 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Theia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theia is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.1%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Theia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Theia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.3% (397 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 Theia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Theia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Theia 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 Theia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Theia 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 Theia 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 the name Theia?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Theia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.