Timothy
Feminine · “honoring God”
Timothy is given to boys far more often — 1,084,192 boys against 4,328 girls since 1880. See Timothy as a boy name
The Reformation brought Timothy out of the epistles. It was almost unknown in medieval England — no popular saint's cult, no royal bearer — and then Protestants who wanted scriptural names rather than legendary ones went through the New Testament and found Paul's young colleague waiting there. It is also, quite separately, a grass.
How old is the name Timothy?
Timothy first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Timothy alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 4,000 people named Timothy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Timothy most popular?
Timothy peaked in 1968, reaching #875 nationally. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
From Timotheos to Timothy
The story of Timothy
Timothy grass takes its name from Timothy Hanson, an eighteenth-century American farmer who promoted it as fodder — one of the very few cases where an ordinary man's first name became a botanical one. So a Timothy carries a Greek compound about honor and a hayfield at the same time. The name has been in steady English use since the Reformation and reached its height in America in the middle of the last century, having spent four hundred years as an unremarkable, entirely respectable choice.
Meaning
honoring God
Greek Timotheos joins time, honor or worth, with theos, god. The compound can be read either way round — honoring God, or honored by God — and Greek does not settle it. The derivation itself is not disputed. Timothy of the epistles was Paul's traveling companion and the recipient of two letters; the name reached English in its Latin form and was anglicized during the sixteenth century.
How the name formed
- Timotheos
- Timotheus
- Timothy
Related forms: Timothée · Timoteo · Timoteo · Timofey · Timotheus
Pronouncing Timothy
TIM-uh-thee
TIM-uh-thee, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced, the th as in think. Greek said the middle vowel fully and put the weight further back, so the English name has flattened it considerably.
Nicknames for Timothy
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
- 1921
- Most girls named
- 1982133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #875reached in 1968
- Change vs 2012
- 0.0%5 in 2016, 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.
Timothy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Timothée in French — same name
- Timoteo in Spanish — same name
- Timoteo in Italian — same name
- Timofey in Russian — same name
- Timotheus in German — same name
Timothys among us
people named Timothy 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
Timothy 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
- The Greek compound is settled and both halves are ordinary, dignified words.
- Tim is a complete working short form that needs no explanation anywhere.
- It has been in continuous English use for four centuries without belonging to one decade.
- Every European language has a version, so it crosses a border without translation.
- A great many people carry it, so a Timothy will rarely be the only Tim in a room.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
- Almost every Timothy is called Tim, so the full name is largely ceremonial.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Timothy will be read as a boy on every form.
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What they receive
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Timothy
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Timothys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,000 people named Timothy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Timothy in 2025?
- Timothy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Timothy with classmates?
- Timothy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Timothy? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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