Theotis
Masculine
Theotis joins a Greek front to an English surname ending and belongs fully to neither. It is an American name in the truest sense: assembled here, out of pieces that arrived from opposite ends of Europe, and used by families who had no particular reason to keep them apart.
How old is the name Theotis?
Theotis first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Theotis alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 700 people named Theotis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Theotis most popular?
Theotis peaked in 1955, reaching #1396 nationally. See the whole 1955 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Theotis
Otis, the piece the ending most resembles, has a history of its own that almost nobody knows. It is an English surname from a medieval given name, Ode or Otes, a form of the Norman Odo — the same name as the bishop who was William the Conqueror's half-brother and who appears, club in hand, in the Bayeux Tapestry. Odo faded; his name survived as a surname; the surname became an American first name and then, in this name and others like it, a syllable available for building with. That is the ordinary life cycle of a name in English, and Theotis sits at the end of it, made from two pieces that had each already traveled a thousand years to get within reach of each other.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is the Greek theos, god, which stands at the head of Theodore, Theophilus and a hundred other names. The ending matches Otis, Curtis and Travis, all of them English surnames. But a name is not the sum of its syllables, and no source records Theotis as a compound anybody built deliberately. The honest reading is that it was made from familiar parts, which is a real origin even when it is not a translation.
Pronouncing Theotis
thee-OH-tiss
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. The th is the soft one of think, not the voiced one of this.
Nicknames for Theotis
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
- 1918
- Most boys named
- 197732 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1396reached in 1955
- Change vs 2003
- 0.0%5 in 2017, from 5
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.
Theotiss among us
people named Theotis are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Theotis sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It contains two strong, familiar names and can be shortened to either of them.
- It sounds formal and substantial without being difficult for anyone to say.
- It is genuinely rare while using no sound a stranger would stumble over.
- It will be heard as Theodore or Otis and corrected to one of them regularly.
- The name is closely tied to a particular American era and region.
- No dictionary holds it, so the meaning he is offered will have been made up by whoever offered it.
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Theotis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Theotiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Theotis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Theotis in 2025?
- Theotis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Theotis with classmates?
- Theotis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Thomas#34 · Timothy#203 · Tyler#219 · Terry#1115 · Theodore#4 · Travis#434 · Todd#1609 · Tony#783
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Theotis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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