Thelma
Feminine · “Will”
Thelma is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 225,460 girls against 1,142 boys since 1880. See Thelma as a boy name
Thelma begins with a th that the Greek word behind it would write with a single letter. Theta is one character in Greek and English needs two for it, which is why so many names of Greek descent carry a consonant pair that looks decorative and is doing real work.
How old is the name Thelma?
Thelma was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Thelma alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 43,500 people named Thelma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Thelma most popular?
Thelma peaked in 1910, reaching #25 nationally. Today it ranks #4661, 4,636 places below that high. See the whole 1910 chart.
Where it comes from
From thelema to Thelma
The story of Thelma
The novelist who made it outsold every rival of her generation and is now unread. Marie Corelli published romances of enormous popularity from the eighteen-eighties onward, selling more than Conan Doyle, Wells and Kipling put together at her height, and was read by two prime ministers and a queen; she also refused to send review copies to critics, on the grounds that they were incapable of understanding her, and reviewed her own reception in prefaces. The books were dismissed as vulgar by the literary world at the time and have almost entirely disappeared since. What survives of her is the names: this one, and one or two others, given to hundreds of thousands of children by people who had read her.
Meaningscholars disagree
Will, wish
Usually connected to the Greek thelema, will or volition, and the connection is a reading rather than a documented derivation, since the name was invented by a novelist who did not explain herself. If she took the Greek word, the name means something like the thing willed; if she made a sound she liked, it means nothing.
How the name formed
- thelema
- Thelma
Pronouncing Thelma
THEL-muh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The th is the unvoiced one, as in thin, and the l after it is a cluster English handles easily at the start of a syllable but not at the end of one.
Nicknames for Thelma
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19217,839 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #25reached in 1910
- Change vs 2022
- +11.5%29 in 2025, from 26
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.
Thelma in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Thelmas among us
people named Thelma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 55,423 born in 2025 was named Thelma
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Thelma 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
Where Thelma is headed
Thelma should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Thelma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Thelma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, firm and completely unambiguous in spelling and sound.
- It has a documented author and a documented decade, which most names cannot offer.
- It is genuinely uncommon now while being entirely familiar.
- The record carries it for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- It is very strongly dated to the first decades of the last century in American ears.
- One film has attached the name firmly to a particular story since the nineteen-nineties.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Thelma to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Thelma
Feminine · #4661 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Thelmas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 43,500 people named Thelma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Thelma in 2025?
- Thelma ranks #4661 among US girl names in 2025, with 29 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Thelma?
- About 1 in every 55,423 US girls born in 2025 was named Thelma — 29 in all.
- Will my child share the name Thelma with classmates?
- Thelma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Thelma
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ellenor#4661 · Roselie#4661 · Marni#4661 · Menucha#4661 · Infinity#4661 · Lilya#4661 · Railyn#4661 · Zada#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Thelma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Thelma and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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