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Thad

#9,606 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Thaddeus

Thad has been given to 8,224 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #9,606 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1967, with 365 recorded.

Babies named Thad, 2025

1 in 414,000

Thad over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Thad: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Thaddeus

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Thad means

Thad is a short form of Thaddeus.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Thad → Thaddeus. The family’s proposed meaning is “heart, breast”, recorded in the naming reference for Thaddeus.

Origin, language, and formation

Thad is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Thaddeus.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Thad is pronounced /θæd/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 8,219 boys were recorded with the name Thad between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 365 in 1967; its best national rank was #401 in 1967.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,465 in 2020 to #9,606 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,262 in 2015 to #9,606 in 2025.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Thad between 1932 and 1932. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1932; its best national rank was #5,017 in 1932.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Thad?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 213,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,606
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Thad sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Thad. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Thads were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Thad was born before 1967 — so the typical Thad is around 58 today.

Median birth year
1967
About 58 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
23.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
5.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
6,054
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 23.9% of all recorded uses (1,963).

Is Thad rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+4,425
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−141
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,344
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.44×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.2%
Peak was 1967 (365)
Years since peak
58
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#401
1967

Spellings of Thad

Thad is not the most common spelling — Ethan is, with 35.5% against Thad's 0.60%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Thad is used

Across 1910–2025, Thad was most concentrated in North Carolina — about 1 in 11,111 boys, against 1 in 39,697 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

09 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1North Carolina1 in 11,111
  2. 2South Dakota1 in 11,111
  3. 3Iowa1 in 14,286
  4. 4Kansas1 in 14,286
  5. 5Nebraska1 in 20,000
  6. 6Georgia1 in 25,000
  7. 7Indiana1 in 25,000
  8. 8Louisiana1 in 25,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Thad has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Thad

People whose public names include Thad, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Thad in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Thad. Linked forms have their own page here.

Thaddeus

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Thad by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,606
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 141
Best rank ever
#401
1967
Peak year
1967
365 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
8,219
Count in 2025
8

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,017
1932
Peak year
1932
5 that year
First recorded
1932
Last recorded
1932
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Thad

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ShadThaneThaiThangThayneThayerJihadRashadAhadThatcherFahadThaoThanhThaddeusThadeusMahadChadJahadAshadTharonThadeoAnhadThaddaeusThaxton

Names with a curve like Thad

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Thad, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KelleyRobbyTraceyDinoKiethRobbieGarthMicheleLorneScottieRodericKris

Sibling names for Thad

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Thad

Top names of 1967, Thad's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1967Boys' names starting with T