Theon
Greek name meaning "godly" or "divine".
Name Census estimates that about 388 living Americans carry the first name Theon. It is a predominantly male name (97.8% of registrations). The average person named Theon today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Theon births was 2022 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Theon. 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 Theon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
388
~ 1 in 883,387 Americans
Peak year
2022
34 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,762
Tracked since 1924
Census
Theon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 382 people with the first name Theon, which placed it at #24,991 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
#24,991
National first-name rank
People counted
382
382 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Theon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theon is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%). 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 Theon 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 Theon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.4% · 185
- White29.3% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 30
- Two or more races7.6% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Theon
Theon leans heavily male at 97.8% of total registrations, but 9 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Theon as a male name
- Ranked #3,762 in 2024
- 30 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (34 births)
Theon as a female name
- Ranked #5,783 in 1970
- 9 female births in 1970
- Peak: 1970 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Theon leans strongly male. 328 people counted with this name were male (86.1%), compared with 53 female bearers (13.9%).
Popularity
Theon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Theon from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 130 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Theon 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 Theon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Theons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Theon
The name Theon has its origins in Ancient Greek, derived from the word "theos" which means "god" or "deity." It is believed to have emerged around the 5th century BC in ancient Greek-speaking regions such as mainland Greece and Asia Minor.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Theon can be found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who mentioned a character named Theon in his dialogues. Additionally, the name appears in various ancient Greek texts and inscriptions from that time period.
In the 4th century BC, there was a famous Greek mathematician and astronomer named Theon of Smyrna, who lived in the city of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, Turkey). He is known for his work in mathematics and for writing a treatise on the subjects of arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry.
Another notable figure with the name Theon was Theon of Alexandria, a Greek scholar and mathematician who lived in the 4th century AD. He is best known for his commentaries on the works of ancient mathematicians, including Euclid and Ptolemy.
During the Byzantine era, Theon Grammarian was a renowned Greek scholar and commentator on classical literature, who lived in the 4th century AD. He is credited with writing extensive commentaries on the works of various ancient Greek authors, such as Homer and Aratus.
In the 16th century, there was a French philosopher and mathematician named Theon Coyet, who made contributions to the field of mathematics and is known for his work on optics and perspective.
Throughout history, the name Theon has been used across various cultures and regions, particularly in areas influenced by ancient Greek culture and language. While it may have fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains a name with a rich historical background and associations with scholarship and intellectual pursuits in the ancient world.
People
Theon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Theon 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
Theon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Theon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 388 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Theon 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 883,387 US residents.
Is Theon a common name?
We classify Theon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 411 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Theon most popular?
The single biggest year for Theon was 2022, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Theon 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 Theon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 382 people with the name Theon, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,991 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 Theon 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 Theon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Theon leans strongly male. 328 people counted with this name were male (86.1%), compared with 53 female bearers (13.9%). 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 Theon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theon is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%). 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 Theon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Theon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.4% (185 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 Theon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Theon a male name?
Yes, 97.8% of people registered as Theon 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 Theon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Theon 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 Theon 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 are named Theon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.