Timo
Short form of the given name Timothy, of Greek origin meaning "honoring God".
Name Census estimates that about 261 living Americans carry the first name Timo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Timo today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Timo births was 2023 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Timo. 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 Timo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
261
~ 1 in 1,313,235 Americans
Peak year
2023
17 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,768
Tracked since 1961
Census
Timo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 780 people with the first name Timo, which placed it at #14,921 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
#14,921
National first-name rank
People counted
780
780 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Timo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timo is White at 69.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) 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 Timo 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 Timo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.6% · 543
- Hispanic or Latino17.4% · 136
- Two or more races4.6% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 35
- Black or African American2.9% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Popularity
Timo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Timo from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 67 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
Timo 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 Timo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Timos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Timo
The name Timo is a masculine given name of Finnish origin. It is derived from the Finnish word "Timo," which means "the brave one" or "the courageous one." The name has its roots in the ancient Finnish language and culture, and it has been used for centuries.
In Finland, the name Timo has been popular since the Middle Ages. It is believed to have been used as early as the 13th century, and it has been recorded in various historical documents and records from that time period. The name was particularly popular among the Finnish nobility and the upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Timo can be found in the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland. In this ancient text, which dates back to the 19th century, there is a character named Timo who is portrayed as a brave and courageous warrior.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Timo. For example, Timo Salminen (1893-1968) was a Finnish athlete who won the gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Another famous Timo was Timo Salonen (1951-1986), a Finnish rally driver who won the World Rally Championship in 1985.
In the field of music, Timo Tolkki (born 1966) is a Finnish guitarist and songwriter, best known as the former lead guitarist and founder of the power metal band Stratovarius. Timo Korhonen (1928-2017) was a Finnish actor and director who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout his career.
Beyond Finland, the name Timo has also been used in other parts of the world, although it is less common. For instance, there was Timo Glock (born 1982), a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2004 to 2012.
Overall, the name Timo has a rich history and cultural significance in Finland, where it has been used for centuries to represent bravery, courage, and strength. While it is less common in other parts of the world, the name has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, particularly in the fields of sports, entertainment, and the arts.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Timo
People
Timo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Timo 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
Timo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Timo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 261 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Timo 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 1,313,235 US residents.
Is Timo a common name?
We classify Timo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 268 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Timo most popular?
The single biggest year for Timo was 2023, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Timo is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Timo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 780 people with the name Timo, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,921 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 Timo 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 Timo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Timo leans strongly male. 771 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.0%). 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 Timo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timo is White at 69.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.4%) 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 Timo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Timo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.6% (543 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 Timo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Timo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Timo 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 Timo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Timo 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 Timo 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 have the name Timo?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Timo, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.