Thea vs Thelbert
American parents have registered 20,118 Theas since 1880, against 931 Thelberts. Thea is still ahead, with 867 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Thea Thelbert
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 144 years in which either name was published, Thea for 128 years and Thelbert for 16 years. The lead changed hands 18 times.
- 1880–1912 Thea ahead
- 1917–1923 Thelbert ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1927–2025 Thea ahead, apart from one short spell
14 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Thea | Thelbert | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 20,118 | 931 |
| Most in one year | 1,209 | 32 |
| Babies in 2025 | 867 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 19,000 | 230 |
| Median age today | 8 | 74 |
| Peak year | 2018 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 273rd girls | 1,296th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 353rd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1908 |
| Girls / boys | 20,113 / 5 | 0 / 931 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Thelberts alive today are over 74; half the Theas are over 8. That is 66 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Thea and Thelbert.