Timofey
Masculine · “honoring God”
Timofey is Russia's Timothy, and Timothy is a compliment paid to God: the Greek joins a word for honor to the word for god, so the name means one who honors God or, read the other way, one honored by him. Russian kept the Greek shape more closely than English did.
How old is the name Timofey?
Timofey first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Timofey is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Timofey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Timofey most popular?
Timofey peaked in 2015, reaching #3513 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 1,532 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Timotheos to Timofey
The story of Timofey
Timothy was Paul's younger companion and the addressee of two letters in the New Testament, which made the name ordinary in the Greek-speaking east from the first centuries. Russian took it through Greek rather than Latin, which is why it kept the f sound where English has th, and Timofey has been a Russian name since the medieval period. It came to American records with Russian and Ukrainian families and has been rising again in Russia in the last twenty years.
Meaning
honoring God
Greek time, honor or worth, joined to theos, god. The compound can be read in either direction, honoring God or honored by God, and Greek grammar allows both.
How the name formed
- Timotheos
- Timofey
Related forms: Тимофей · Timothy · Timotheos · Timoteo · Tymofiy
Pronouncing Timofey
tee-mah-FAY
Three syllables with the stress at the end in Russian. English speakers often say tim-oh-FAY or move the weight forward, and both are heard in American families.
Nicknames for Timofey
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
- 1994
- Most boys named
- 201531 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3513reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −9.5%19 in 2025, from 21
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.
Timofey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Тимофей in Russian — transliteration
- Timothy in English — same name
- Timotheos in Greek — same name
- Timoteo in Spanish — same name
- Tymofiy in Ukrainian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida.
Timofeys among us
people named Timofey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Timofey
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 Tecumseh test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Timofey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tecumseh climbed just as high around 1916, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tecumseh's path sketches the road Timofey is walking now.
Timofey 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
Timofey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Timofey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Tim is available as a short form that needs no explaining anywhere.
- It is the same name as Timothy, so it is legible while looking distinct.
- It keeps a Russian or Ukrainian family line visible on a document.
- American forms will default to Timothy, and the correction becomes routine.
- The stress at the end is unusual in English and gets moved forward.
- Timofey, Timofei and Tymofiy are all in use across transliterations.
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What they receive
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Timofey
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Timofeys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Timofey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Timofey in 2025?
- Timofey ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Timofey?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Timofey — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Timofey with classmates?
- Timofey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Timofey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Timofey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Timofey and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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