Timaeus
A masculine given name of Greek origin meaning "to honor".
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Timaeus. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Timaeus today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Timaeus births was 2012 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Timaeus. 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 Timaeus. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
2012
7 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,020
Tracked since 2012
Popularity
Timaeus: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Timaeus 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 Timaeus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 13 | 0 | 13 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Timaeus
Timaeus is a given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek verb "timao," which means "to honor" or "to revere." The name can be traced back to ancient Greece and has been in use for several centuries.
The first known historical reference to the name Timaeus can be found in Plato's philosophical dialogue "Timaeus," written around 360 BCE. In this work, Timaeus is one of the main characters who delivers an extensive monologue on the origin of the universe and the nature of the cosmos. This dialogue is considered one of Plato's most significant works and has had a lasting impact on Western philosophy.
Another notable historical figure with the name Timaeus was a Greek historian and philosopher from Tauromenium (modern-day Taormina, Sicily), who lived in the 4th century BCE. He is best known for his work "Histories," which covered the events of Sicily and the western Mediterranean region from the earliest times until his own day.
In the early Christian era, Timaeus was the name of a bishop of Alexandria who lived in the 4th century CE. He is remembered for his contribution to the development of Christian theology and his efforts in combating the Arian heresy.
During the Renaissance period, Timaeus was the name of a 15th-century Italian humanist and philosopher, Timoteo Maffei (1466-1537), who was also known as Timoteo Maffei Timaeus. He was a respected scholar and translator of classical Greek texts.
Another notable figure with the name Timaeus was Timaeus of Locri, a Pythagorean philosopher who lived in the 5th century BCE. He is credited with writing a treatise on the soul, which heavily influenced the ideas of Plato and other ancient Greek philosophers.
Over the centuries, the name Timaeus has been used by various individuals across different cultures and regions, but it remains predominantly rooted in its Greek origins and association with honor, respect, and philosophical traditions.
People
Timaeus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Timaeus 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
Timaeus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Timaeus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Timaeus 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Timaeus a common name?
We classify Timaeus as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Timaeus most popular?
The single biggest year for Timaeus was 2012, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Timaeus is about 12 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 Timaeus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Timaeus a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Timaeus 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 Timaeus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Timaeus 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 Timaeus 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 Timaeus?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.