Thyme
A small herb with grey-green leaves used in cooking.
Name Census estimates that about 63 living Americans carry the first name Thyme. It is a predominantly female name (90.6% of registrations). The average person named Thyme today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thyme births was 1999 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thyme. 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 Thyme. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
63
~ 1 in 5,440,545 Americans
Peak year
1999
9 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,996
Tracked since 1995
Gender
Gender distribution for Thyme
Thyme leans heavily female at 90.6% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Thyme as a male name
- Ranked #11,996 in 2019
- 6 male births in 2019
- Peak: 2019 (6 births)
Thyme as a female name
- Ranked #13,451 in 2022
- 7 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1999 (9 births)
Popularity
Thyme: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thyme from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 20 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Thyme remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thyme 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 Thyme 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 Thyme
Thyme is a given name derived from the herb of the same name, which is part of the mint family. The name has its origins in the Greek word "thymos," meaning "to fumigate" or "to sacrifice," reflecting the plant's use in ancient religious rituals.
The name can be traced back to ancient Greece, where the herb was valued for its culinary and medicinal properties. It was also used in rituals and ceremonies as a symbol of courage and bravery, as the Greeks believed it had the power to revive the spirit and promote strength.
In ancient Rome, the herb was associated with the goddess Venus and was used in love potions and rituals. The name Thyme may have been given to children as a way to invoke the goddess's blessings for love, beauty, and fertility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Thyme comes from the 4th century BC, when a Greek philosopher named Thyme of Tauromenium was mentioned in Diogenes Laertius's "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers."
In the Middle Ages, the name Thyme was occasionally used in Europe, particularly in regions where the herb was cultivated. Saint Thyme, a 6th-century hermit from Brittany, France, is one of the earliest known individuals to bear the name.
Another notable figure with the name Thyme was Thyme Curzo, a 14th-century English monk and scholar who authored several works on theology and philosophy. His birth and death years are uncertain, but he is believed to have lived between 1290 and 1360.
In the 16th century, Thyme Angell was a prominent English churchman who served as the Bishop of Norwich from 1554 to 1559. He was born in 1492 and died in 1559.
During the Renaissance, the name Thyme was occasionally used in Italy, with one notable example being Thyme Ventura, a 16th-century Italian painter and architect who was active in Rome and Naples. His exact birth and death dates are unknown, but he is believed to have lived between 1520 and 1590.
In more recent times, the name Thyme has been used sparingly, with one notable bearer being Thyme Sloat, an American botanist and horticulturist who lived from 1808 to 1890 and made significant contributions to the study and cultivation of herbs and medicinal plants.
People
Thyme + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thyme 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
Thyme: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thyme?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 63 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thyme 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 5,440,545 US residents.
Is Thyme a common name?
We classify Thyme as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 64 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thyme most popular?
The single biggest year for Thyme was 1999, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thyme is about 18 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 Thyme in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thyme a female name?
Yes, 90.6% of people registered as Thyme 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 Thyme still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thyme 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 Thyme 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 many people are called Thyme?
You can see how many people share the name Thyme on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.