Thereas
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "harvester" or "fierce huntress".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Thereas. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Thereas today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thereas births was 1970 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thereas. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Thereas. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
1970
6 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1975 SSA rank
#10,476
Tracked since 1954
Popularity
Thereas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thereas from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 11 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
Thereas 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 Thereas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thereas
The name Thereas is believed to have originated from the ancient Greek language, with roots dating back to the classical period of ancient Greece around the 5th century BCE. It is thought to be a feminine variant of the Greek name Theodorus, which means "gift of God." The name was likely derived from the combination of the Greek words "theos," meaning "god," and "doron," meaning "gift."
In ancient Greek mythology, Thereas was the name of a minor goddess associated with the harvest and fertility. She was often depicted as a young woman carrying a sheaf of wheat or a cornucopia, symbolizing abundance and prosperity. Her name was invoked during agricultural festivals and rituals, particularly those related to the sowing and reaping of crops.
The earliest recorded use of the name Thereas can be found in ancient Greek inscriptions and records dating back to the 4th century BCE. One notable individual with this name was Thereas of Locri, a philosopher and follower of Pythagoras, who lived in the 5th century BCE. She is mentioned in the writings of the ancient Greek historian Diogenes Laertius as one of the few female philosophers of her time.
Another historical figure named Thereas was a Greek woman from the island of Lesbos, who lived in the 3rd century BCE. She was renowned for her skills as a weaver and was commissioned to create intricate tapestries and garments for the royal court of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt.
In the 2nd century CE, a Christian martyr named Thereas was venerated for her unwavering faith and courage in the face of persecution. She was executed in Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian for refusing to renounce her Christian beliefs. Her name appears in the early Christian martyrologies and hagiographies.
During the Byzantine period, Thereas was the name of a prominent abbess who founded a convent in Constantinople in the 6th century CE. She was known for her piety, wisdom, and leadership in the Christian community of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In the modern era, one notable individual named Thereas was a Greek painter and sculptor who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Athens in 1872, Thereas Rallis was acclaimed for her beautiful depictions of Greek mythology and landscapes, contributing to the revival of Greek art and culture during that time.
People
Thereas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thereas 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
Thereas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thereas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thereas 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 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Thereas a common name?
We classify Thereas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thereas most popular?
The single biggest year for Thereas was 1970, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thereas is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Thereas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thereas a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thereas 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 Thereas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thereas 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 Thereas 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Thereas?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.