Athanasios
Masculine · “immortal”
Athanasios is Greek for deathless, and the bishop who bore it spent seventeen years in exile for refusing to change one letter of a creed.
How old is the name Athanasios?
Athanasios first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Athanasios alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 1,200 people named Athanasios are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Athanasios most popular?
Athanasios peaked in 1973, reaching #1329 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 3,210 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Athanasios appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From athanatos to Athanasios
The story of Athanasios
Athanasius of Alexandria fought the Arian controversy for half a century and was exiled five times, and the point at issue was whether the Son was of the same substance as the Father or merely of like substance — homoousios against homoiousios, one letter apart. He won. Modern Greek uses Athanasios heavily and shortens it to Thanasis or Sakis. It reaches American records with Greek emigration.
Meaning
immortal, deathless
From Greek a-, not, and thanatos, death; the same root gives euthanasia and Thanatos the personification of death. The negative prefix is the same one in atheist and anonymous.
How the name formed
- athanatos
- Athanasios
Related forms: Αθανάσιος · Athanasius · Afanasy
Pronouncing Athanasios
ah-thah-NAH-see-os
Five syllables with the stress on the third. Greek gives the same shape.
Nicknames for Athanasios
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
- 1959
- Most boys named
- 197339 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1329reached in 1973
- Change vs 2024
- −4.3%22 in 2025, from 23
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.
Athanasios in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Αθανάσιος in Greek — transliteration
- Athanasius in English — same name
- Afanasy in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Illinois.
Athanasioss among us
people named Athanasios are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Athanasios
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 Jc test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Athanasios's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jc climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jc's path sketches the road Athanasios is walking now.
Athanasios 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
Athanasios beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Athanasios in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning that is transparent once explained.
- Thanasis and Sakis are both established Greek short forms.
- One of the more consequential figures in Christian doctrinal history.
- Ten letters and five syllables is a great deal for any American form.
- Americans will use a short form from the first day.
- It is entirely unfamiliar outside Greek communities in America.
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What they receive
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Athanasios
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Athanasioss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Athanasios are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Athanasios in 2025?
- Athanasios ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Athanasios?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Athanasios — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Athanasios with classmates?
- Athanasios will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Athanasios
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Athanasios? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Athanasios and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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