Thea vs Theora
American parents have registered 20,118 Theas since 1880, against 853 Theoras. Thea is still ahead, with 867 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Thea Theora
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 124 years and Theora for 20 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.
- 1880–1904 Thea ahead
- 1905–1919 Theora ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1920–2025 Thea ahead, apart from one short spell
8 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Thea | Theora | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 20,118 | 853 |
| Most in one year | 1,209 | 37 |
| Babies in 2025 | 867 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 19,000 | 160 |
| Median age today | 8 | 78 |
| Peak year | 2018 | 1929 |
| Best rank | 273rd girls | 1,223rd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 353rd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1891 |
| Girls / boys | 20,113 / 5 | 853 / 0 |
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 Theoras alive today are over 78; half the Theas are over 8. That is 70 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Thea and Theora.