Theodore
Masculine · “gift of God”
Theodore is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 317,206 boys against 969 girls since 1880. See Theodore as a girl name
The teddy bear is named after a president who refused to shoot one. On a hunt in 1902 a bear was cornered and tied to a tree for him and he would not do it; a cartoon ran the next week; a Brooklyn shopkeeper made a stuffed bear, wrote to ask permission to call it Teddy's bear, and got it.
How old is the name Theodore?
Theodore was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Theodore alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 205,000 people named Theodore are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Theodore most popular?
Theodore peaked in 2024, reaching #4 nationally. Today it ranks #4, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2024 chart.
Theodore appears on these lists:
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- Names at their all-time peak, right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From theos to Theodore
The story of Theodore
Theos is one of the most productive Greek roots in English and one of the words it built is genuinely startling. Enthusiasm is en-theos: having a god inside you. It meant possession — the state of a prophet or a Bacchant — and only softened to keenness in the eighteenth century, when it was still a mild insult for religious excess. Theology is talk about god, a pantheon is all the gods, an atheist is without one, and apotheosis is being made into one. The name is the plainest of them: a child described as a gift, said in a language where that was a complete sentence and needed no explaining.
Meaning
gift of God
Greek theos, god, with doron, a gift. It was a common name in the Greek-speaking world from the second century onward and was given by Christian and pagan families alike, since the sentiment worked either way.
Cultural footprint
Theodore Roosevelt (b. 1858) — Youngest US president ever — the teddy bear is named after him
Theodore Dreiser (b. 1871) — Novelist of An American Tragedy
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- theos
- Theodoros
- Theodore
Related forms: Theodoros · Fyodor · Teodoro · Teodoro · Theodor · Tivadar
Pronouncing Theodore
THEE-uh-dor
Three syllables, stress on the first. Greek puts it on the third, theh-oh-DOR-os. Russian Fyodor is the same name after a millennium of sound change and looks nothing like it.
Nicknames for Theodore
High
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 boys named
- 202513,355 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- +23.4%13,355 in 2025, from 10,824
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.
Theodore in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Theodoros in Greek — same name
- Fyodor in Russian — same name
- Teodoro in Spanish — same name
- Teodoro in Italian — same name
- Theodor in German — same name
- Tivadar in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Theodores among us
people named Theodore are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 128 born in 2025 was named Theodore
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 Alexander test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Theodore's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alexander climbed just as high around 2009, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alexander's path sketches the road Theodore is walking now.
Theodore has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Theodore is headed
Theodore looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High 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.
Theodore beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Theodore 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 a complete and cheerful statement.
- Four short forms at four different temperatures, from formal to affectionate.
- Recognizable in Greek, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian, though the Russian takes explaining.
- Continuous documented use for eighteen hundred years.
- It is climbing hard at the moment, so a Theodore will not be the only one for long.
- Teddy is what most people will reach for, so it is worth liking the short form.
- The bear association is permanent and entirely benign, but it is not optional.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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What they receive
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Theodore
Masculine · #4 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Theodores are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 205,000 people named Theodore are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Theodore in 2025?
- Theodore ranks #4 among US boy names in 2025, with 13,355 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Theodore?
- About 1 in every 128 US boys born in 2025 was named Theodore — 13,355 in all.
- Will my child share the name Theodore with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 5 classrooms will have a child named Theodore.
Ranked beside Theodore
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Henry#5 · Oliver#3 · Noah#2 · James#6 · Liam#1 · Elijah#7 · Mateo#8 · William#9
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Theodore? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Theodore and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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