Thilo
A German masculine name derived from the name Theudoleikus, meaning "leader of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Thilo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thilo today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thilo births was 2023 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thilo. 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 Thilo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Thilo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2023
5 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,972
Tracked since 2023
Census
Thilo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 131 people with the first name Thilo, which placed it at #48,547 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
#48,547
National first-name rank
People counted
131
131 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thilo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thilo is White at 85.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Thilo 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 Thilo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.5% · 112
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 8
- Two or more races4.6% · 6
- Black or African American2.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2
Popularity
Thilo: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Thilo 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 Thilo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Thilo
The name Thilo has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically Old High German and Old Saxon. It is derived from the Proto-Germanic root "*þeudō," which means "people" or "nation." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 8th century AD.
In Old High German, the name was spelled as "Thiolo" or "Thilo," while in Old Saxon, it appeared as "Thidilo." These variations reflect the linguistic evolution of the name across different Germanic dialects. The name was particularly common among the Frankish and Saxon tribes that inhabited present-day Germany and parts of the Netherlands.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Thilo was a Frankish nobleman who lived in the 9th century. He is mentioned in the Annales Regni Francorum, a chronicle of the Carolingian dynasty, as a loyal supporter of the Frankish king Charles the Bald.
Another notable individual with the name Thilo was a 10th-century Benedictine monk and scholar from the Reichenau Abbey in present-day Germany. He was renowned for his contributions to the study of canon law and is credited with writing several influential treatises on the subject.
In the 12th century, a German nobleman named Thilo von Wettin was a prominent figure in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He played a significant role in the imperial campaigns against the Lombard League in northern Italy.
During the 16th century, Thilo Fegelen, a German painter and engraver, gained recognition for his intricate woodcuts and engravings depicting religious and mythological scenes. His works were widely admired and influenced the development of printmaking in Renaissance Germany.
In more recent history, Thilo Sarrazin, born in 1945, is a German politician and author who has stirred controversy with his views on immigration and integration. He served as a member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank and later became a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
While the name Thilo has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and contexts over the centuries, reflecting the widespread influence of the Germanic peoples throughout history.
People
Thilo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thilo 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
Thilo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thilo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thilo 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Thilo a common name?
We classify Thilo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thilo most popular?
The single biggest year for Thilo was 2023, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thilo is about 3 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thilo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 131 people with the name Thilo, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,547 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 Thilo 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 Thilo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thilo leans strongly male. 122 people counted with this name were male (95.3%), compared with 6 female bearers (4.7%). 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 Thilo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thilo is White at 85.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.1%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Thilo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thilo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.5% (112 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 Thilo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thilo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thilo 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 Thilo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thilo 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 Thilo 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 common is the name Thilo?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.