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Theodor

#2,004 in 2025Boys' name

God + gift, through Theodore

Theodor has been given to 2,216 babies in the U.S. since 1884. In 2025 it ranked #2,004 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 88 recorded.

Babies named Theodor, 2025

1 in 43,600

Theodor over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Theodor: meaning, origin, and history

God + gift, through Theodore

Ancient Greek and Latin

What Theodor means

Theodor belongs to the name family reached through Theodor → Theodore. Its meaning is “god + gift”.

Origin, language, and formation

Theodor is used in English, Danish, German, Norwegian and Swedish. Its origins include Ancient Greek and Latin.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Theodore and Teodor.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,216 boys were recorded with the name Theodor between 1884 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 88 in 2022; its best national rank was #1,055 in 1887.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,892 in 2020 to #2,004 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,407 in 2015 to #2,004 in 2025.

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 Theodor?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 43,600
76 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 22,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,004
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
30,237 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Theodor 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 30,237 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Theodor. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Theodors were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Theodor was born before 2002 — so the typical Theodor is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
22.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
51.1%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,718
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 22.2% of all recorded uses (492).

Is Theodor 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
+111
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−112
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+403
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.41×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
86.4%
Peak was 2022 (88)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
20.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,055
1887

Spellings of Theodor

Theodor is not the most common spelling — Theodore is, with 95.7% against Theodor's 0.67%.

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 Theodor is used

Across 2016–2025, Theodor was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 16,667 boys, against 1 in 32,738 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

16 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 16,667
  2. 2California1 in 20,000
  3. 3Illinois1 in 25,000
  4. 4Pennsylvania1 in 25,000
  5. 5Washington1 in 25,000
  6. 6Minnesota1 in 33,333
  7. 7Colorado1 in 50,000
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 50,000

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.

Theodor around the world

Where Theodor ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #606
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2017–2024
    #727
    in 2024
  • Northern Ireland
    2015–2025
    #395
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2006–2025
    #577
    in 2025
  • France
    1901–2025
    #2,175
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #11
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1996–2024
    #1,390
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Theodor

People whose public names include Theodor, 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.

Theodor in other languages

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

FedorFeodorFyodorTeodorTeodoroTheodoreTheodoroTheodorusTódorFiodorFiódorFjodorTivadarThéodore

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

Theodor by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,004
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 112
Best rank ever
#1,055
1887
Peak year
2022
88 that year
First recorded
1884
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,216
Count in 2025
76

Names similar to Theodor

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

TheadorTheodenTheodisTheadoreThermanTheseusTheresaThedoreTheotisTheophilusThermonAmadorTheronThelmaTheodoroAvigdorThelbertTheranTheodorosTheophilTheonTherronTeodorIsidor

Names with a curve like Theodor

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

EllisonOrsonNyleRushOzzieJethroArieHazenAnselHollandWestBennet

Sibling names for Theodor

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 Theodor

Top names of 2022, Theodor's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1887Boys' names starting with TTheodore Variations & Nicknames