Theodore means gift of God, and in 2025 it was the fourth most popular boy name in the United States, the strongest showing in its 146 years on the federal charts.
That is a sharp turn for a name that spent most of the twentieth century sliding out of fashion and hit bottom in 1999. Theodore reads formal on a diploma and soft on a toddler, and it arrives with three ready-made nicknames, Ted, Teddy and Theo, so a boy can pick his own register as he grows.
Verdict for 2026: Theodore is a warm, well-worn classic that no longer sounds like somebody’s grandfather. The one real catch is company. It is crowded at the top of the chart now, so a Theodore born today will very likely meet another one.
Theodore Overview
- Meaning: Theodore means gift of God.
- Gender: Masculine. US records list 7 girls with the name in 2025 against 13,355 boys.
- Origin: Ancient Greek, from Theodoros.
- Pronunciation: thee-uh-dawr.
- Popularity: 4th for US boys in 2025, its best showing on record; half of all Theodores in the records were born by 1966.
- Nicknames: Ted, Teddy, Theo, Bear, Dore, Teo, Thor.
- Variations: Theodor, Teodor, Teodoro, Théodore, Theodoros, Tivadar, Todor, Feodor, Fiodor.
- Namesakes: Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President; Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss); Theodore Maiman, laser pioneer.
What Does Theodore Mean?
Theodore means gift of God. It is a compound of two Ancient Greek elements: theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift.
That literal reading is why the name moves so easily between religious and secular families. It carries gratitude and reverence without borrowing a figure from scripture, which is why it is often chosen as a biblical name even though it never appears in the Bible.
The meaning is not unique to Theodore, either. Matthew carries the same sense of a gift from God through Hebrew rather than Greek, and Dorothy is built from the identical Greek pair in the opposite order.
Where Does the Name Theodore Come From?
Theodore comes from Ancient Greece, from the name Theodoros, and it reached English through the Latin form Theodorus. If you want an old name, the earliest records of it reach back to the 6th century B.C.E.
Two figures from antiquity carried it. Theodorus of Samos was a Greek sculptor and inventor credited with the ore smelting process, and Theodorus of Byzantium was a prominent scholar.
It became a staple in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, largely through the veneration of several saints who bore the name, and it was well established in England by the 19th century.
How Popular is the Name Theodore?
Theodore ranked 4th among US boy names in 2025, the best it has ever placed, with 13,355 boys given the name that year (1).
The chart is worth pointing at rather than reading about, since hovering any year gives you that year’s count. The shape it draws is a long, patient decline followed by one of the steepest climbs on the boys’ list. Theodore sat at 60th in 1913, stayed in or near the top 100 until about 1950, drifted down through the middle of the century, and hit its low point, 314th, in 1999. Only 934 American boys were named Theodore in 2000. In 2025 there were 13,355.
The recovery has been fast. Theodore was back inside the top 100 in 2015 and inside the top 10 in 2021, and it has held fourth place for the last two years. Across the full record, 317,206 boys have been given the name since 1880, and it has appeared in all 146 years the federal data covers.
For a parent choosing today, the practical reading is short. About 1 in every 128 boys born in 2025 was named Theodore, so a Theodore starting school in a few years will probably share his name, or at least his nickname, with someone in the year group. Half of all Theodores on record were born by 1966, which is why the name still sounds like a grandfather’s to plenty of adults and like a preschooler’s to anyone who has been near a playground lately.
How Do I Pronounce Theodore?
The usual English pronunciation is thee-uh-dawr, with thee-uh-dohr as a common variant. Stress lands on the first syllable and the two that follow are unstressed, which gives the name its rolling rhythm and is the reason the short forms come off it so cleanly.
Is Theodore a Boy or Girl Name?
Theodore is a boys’ name in practice, though not an exclusively male one. The Social Security Administration counted 7 girls given the name in 2025, placing it 13,074th on the girls’ list, against 13,355 boys the same year. Across the whole record 969 girls appear, roughly 0.3 percent of everyone named Theodore.
So the honest line is that girls named Theodore exist and are rare. The original Greek form of the name was strictly masculine, and it remains a masculine name in English-speaking countries. The feminine equivalent is Theodora, worn most famously by the Byzantine empress. The part that genuinely crosses over is the nickname: Teddy turns up on girls too, often as a short form of Theodora.
Variations of Theodore
Theodore has been in use long enough to have settled into its own form in most European languages (2).
If you want the meaning without the popular English spelling, these are the established alternatives:
- Feodor (Ukrainian)
- Fiodor (Russian)
- Teodor (Polish, Czech, Swedish)
- Teodoro (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese)
- Theodor
- Théodore (French)
- Theodoros (Greek)
- Tivadar (Hungarian)
- Todor (Bulgarian)
What Are the Best Nicknames for Theodore?
The three standard nicknames are Ted, Teddy and Theo, and they sit far enough apart in tone that one boy can use all three across a lifetime. Theo works well as a standalone name, Teddy suits early childhood, and Ted is the plain grown-up option.
Common Nicknames
- Ted: Simple, classic, mid-century in feel.
- Teddy: Soft, approachable, easy on a toddler.
- Theo: The standalone-friendly short form.
Creative and Rare Nicknames
- Bear: A nod to the teddy bear story below.
- Dore: A vintage short form taken off the end of the name.
- Teo: The Romance-language spelling, sleeker than Theo.
- Thor: A stretch from the first letters, for parents who want something blunt.
Names Similar to Theodore
If Theodore appeals but the crowd at the top of the chart puts you off, these names sit in the same register: established, unhurried, faintly bookish.
- Alexander
- Arthur: Shares the bear association and the old-world formality.
- Henry: Another short, formal English classic with a blunt nickname in Hank.
- Matthew: Carries the same gift-from-God meaning.
- Oliver
- Sebastian: The same multi-syllable, softly romantic shape.
- William
- August: The same old-fashioned poise with a shorter frame.
- Silas: A softer, biblical alternative.
- Jasper: Vintage with a quirkier edge.
Names That Moved With Theodore
These are not sound-alikes. They are the boys’ names whose popularity curves rose and fell on the same schedule as Theodore’s when we set it against the rest of the boys’ list over the last 45 years of federal data. That makes them evidence of shared taste rather than shared spelling, which is also what makes them good sibling names. The three closest are the ones plotted below.
- Arlo: Reached its best showing in 2024 at 146th and sat at 148th in 2025, still climbing.
- Beau: Hit its high in 2025 at 60th, the strongest year it has had.
- Waylon: Also topped out in 2025, at 56th, and is still rising.
- Hayes: Best showing 160th in 2024, then 162nd in 2025.
- Brooks: 64th in 2025, its strongest year so far.
- Otto: The odd one out. It was already 146th in 1913, at the start of the comparable data, and sits at 277th today.
Middle Names for Theodore
Theodore runs three syllables with a firm ending, so it pairs best with either a short middle name that grounds it or a second classic that matches its formality.
Short and Modern
These give the vintage Theodore a contemporary edge.
Classic and Royal
These pairings sound like a future statesman or author.
Nature and Earthy
These soften the formality of Theodore with a nod to the outdoors.
Sibling Names for Theodore
Names at the same level of formality wear best beside Theodore. The trajectory peers above are worth a look too, since they appeal to the same taste in the same years.
For a Brother
For a Sister
Famous People Named Theodore
The name turns up most often in politics, science and the arts.
- Theodore Roosevelt: The 26th US President, a conservationist, and the man the teddy bear is named after.
- Theodor Seuss Geisel: The children’s author known as Dr. Seuss. His given name was spelled without the final e.
- Theodore Maiman: The physicist who fired the first working laser, built around a synthetic ruby crystal, on May 16, 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
- Theodore Bikel: The Austrian-American actor and folk singer.
- Theodore Roethke: The Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet.
- Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis: The English actor who works as Theo James, known for the Divergent films.
Theodore in Pop Culture
- Theodore “Laurie” Laurence: The neighbor next door in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
- Theodore Seville: The sweet-natured brother in the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise.
- Ted Lasso: A Ted rather than a Theodore, but the character put a large amount of goodwill behind the name in the 2020s.
- Theodore Huxtable: The only son on the sitcom The Cosby Show.
- Theodore Evelyn Mosby: The architect and narrator of How I Met Your Mother.
