Theodore

Where Theodore comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin Theodōrus, borrowed from Ancient Greek Θεόδωρος (Theódōros), from θεός (theós, “god”) + δῶρον (dôron, “gift”). The name was popularized in reference to the prominent St Theodore of Amasea. Unrelated to Theodoric.
— Wiktionary's entry for Theodore
  • Latin
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1858
    Theodore Roosevelt born
    26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909
  2. 1871
    Theodore Dreiser born
    American novelist and journalist
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #70 among boys — 232 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 2025
    Peak, #4
    13,355 babies named Theodore — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2025
    The comeback
    Back to #4 after sinking to #314 in 1999.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Latin [in turn from Ancient Greek]; the name of a saint, pope, several emperors, etc.
Namesakes
  • Theodore Roosevelt · 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909, 1858–1919
  • Theodore Dreiser · American novelist and journalist, 1871–1945
  • Theodore William Richards · United States chemist, 1868–1928
  • Theodore Schultz · American economist, 1902–1998
  • Theodore von Kármán · Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist, 1881–1963

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.