Theda vs Thelma
American parents have registered 226,602 Thelmas since 1880, against 6,556 Thedas. Thelma is still ahead, with 29 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Theda Thelma
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 143 years in which either name was published, Thelma for 141 years and Theda for 2 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.
Side by side
| Theda | Thelma | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 6,556 | 226,602 |
| Most in one year | 356 | 7,871 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 29 |
| Estimated living today | 1,700 | 41,000 |
| Median age today | 73 | 77 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 337th girls | 30th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 4,661st |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 6,556 / 0 | 225,460 / 1,142 |
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 Thelmas alive today are over 77; half the Thedas are over 73. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Theda Oklahoma (6.4×), Arkansas (4.3×), Kansas (3.4×)
- Thelma West Virginia (3.1×), Kentucky (2.6×), Arkansas (2.6×)
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: Theda and Thelma.