Anthea
Feminine · “Greek antheia”
An anthology is a bouquet. The Greek word means a gathering of flowers, and it was used for collections of short poems long before it meant anything else, which puts Anthea and the shelf of collected verse in the same family.
How old is the name Anthea?
Anthea first appears in US birth records in 1932 — 93 years ago. The typical Anthea alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 800 people named Anthea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anthea most popular?
Anthea peaked in 1959, reaching #3254 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 6,853 places below that high. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Antheia to Anthea
The story of Anthea
Greek gods were worshipped locally under epithets, and the epithet often mattered more than the name: Hera Antheia at Argos, Hera Teleia the fulfiller elsewhere, Artemis Orthia at Sparta, Zeus Xenios the protector of guests. A worshipper did not simply pray to Hera; they prayed to a particular Hera with a particular function and a particular temple, and the same god in the next valley could be a different affair entirely. Antheia is Hera in her flowering aspect, and the word behind it, anthos, is one of the most productive in Greek: it gives anthology, a gathering of flowers used from antiquity for collections of short poems, and chrysanthemum, the golden flower. English took Anthea from Greek poetry through seventeenth-century verse rather than from the cult.
Meaning
Greek antheia, flowery
From Greek anthos, a flower, in the form Antheia, the flowery one. It was an epithet of Hera, worshipped under that title at Argos, rather than an ordinary personal name in classical Greece. English poets took it up in the seventeenth century. The American peak is 1959.
How the name formed
- Antheia
- Anthea
Related forms: Antheia · Antea
Pronouncing Anthea
AN-thee-uh
Three syllables, stress on the first. Some say an-THEE-uh with the stress on the second, which is closer to the Greek.
Nicknames for Anthea
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1932
- Most girls named
- 199020 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3254reached in 1959
- Change vs 2023
- −43.8%9 in 2025, from 16
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Anthea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Antheia in Greek — same name
- Antea in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Antheas among us
people named Anthea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Anthea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Toba test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anthea's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Toba climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Toba's path sketches the road Anthea is walking now.
Anthea sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Anthea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anthea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Thea works as a short form and as a complete name.
- The Greek root is documented and gives several familiar English words.
- Three syllables with an open ending.
- Two stress patterns are in use.
- It is much better known in Britain than in America.
- It will be heard as Andrea or Althea.
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What they receive
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Anthea
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Antheas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Anthea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anthea in 2025?
- Anthea ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anthea?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Anthea — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anthea with classmates?
- Anthea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anthea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anthea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anthea and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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