Teodora
A feminine given name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 729 living Americans carry the first name Teodora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Teodora today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teodora births was 1921 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teodora. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Teodora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
729
~ 1 in 470,171 Americans
Peak year
1921
23 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,923
Tracked since 1893
Census
Teodora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,951 people with the first name Teodora, which placed it at #3,941 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,941
National first-name rank
People counted
5.0K
4,951 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Teodora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teodora is Hispanic at 63.7%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Teodora described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Teodora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.7% · 3,152
- White20.8% · 1,032
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.2% · 704
- Black or African American0.6% · 32
- Two or more races0.6% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Teodora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teodora from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 190 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Teodora remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Teodora by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Teodora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Teodoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Teodora, while Illinois, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Teodora
The name Teodora has its origins in the Greek language, deriving from the words "theos" meaning "god" and "doron" meaning "gift." It can be translated to mean "gift of God" or "God's gift." The name dates back to ancient times and was commonly used in the Byzantine Empire.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures bearing the name Teodora was Teodora of Tyre, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was executed for her faith during the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian. Her martyrdom is recorded in various early Christian writings and hagiographies.
Another prominent Teodora was Teodora of Byzantium, wife of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. She lived from around 497 AD to 548 AD and played a significant role in shaping the politics and culture of the Byzantine Empire. Teodora is depicted in the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.
In the 9th century, Teodora was the name of a Byzantine Empress who served as the regent for her son, Michael III, from 842 to 856 AD. She was instrumental in restoring the veneration of icons in the Byzantine Empire after the Iconoclastic controversies.
During the Renaissance period, Teodora Malaspina (1455-1528) was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, known for her support of artists and writers such as Michelangelo and Ludovico Ariosto.
In more recent history, Teodora Konstantin Adelborg (1853-1938) was a Swedish writer and feminist activist who played a significant role in the women's rights movement in Sweden.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Teodora, a name with deep roots in ancient Greek language and culture, and a rich historical legacy across various regions and time periods.
People
Teodora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teodora as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Teodora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teodora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 729 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teodora going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 470,171 US residents.
Is Teodora a common name?
We classify Teodora as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,302 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teodora most popular?
The single biggest year for Teodora was 1921, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teodora is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Teodora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,951 people with the name Teodora, or 1.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,941 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Teodora in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Teodora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teodora appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,952 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Teodora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teodora is Hispanic at 63.7%. The next largest groups are White (20.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Teodora most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Teodora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.7% (3,152 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Teodora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Teodora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Teodora in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Teodora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Teodora in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Teodora can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Teodora?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.