Thelbert
Composed of Germanic elements meaning "noble" and "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 271 living Americans carry the first name Thelbert. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thelbert today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thelbert births was 1921 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thelbert. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Thelbert is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Thelberts were born before 1961.
People living today
271
~ 1 in 1,264,776 Americans
Peak year
1921
32 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1985 SSA rank
#7,490
Tracked since 1908
Census
Thelbert in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 294 people with the first name Thelbert, which placed it at #29,893 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
#29,893
National first-name rank
People counted
294
294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thelbert
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thelbert is White at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.3%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Thelbert 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 Thelbert at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.3% · 189
- Black or African American31.3% · 92
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 6
- Two or more races1.7% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2
Popularity
Thelbert: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thelbert from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 230 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thelbert 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 Thelbert during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thelberts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Virginia recorded the most babies named Thelbert, while Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thelbert
The name Thelbert originates from the Old English language, a Germanic language spoken in parts of what is now England and southeastern Scotland from the 5th to the 11th centuries. It is a combination of the elements "þegl" meaning "servant" or "thane," and "beorht" meaning "bright" or "brilliant." Therefore, the name Thelbert can be interpreted as "brilliant servant" or "servant of brilliance."
This name was particularly popular among the Anglo-Saxons during the medieval period. It was borne by several notable historical figures, including Saint Thelbert, a 7th-century Bishop of Le Mans in France, and Thelbert, a 9th-century Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Thelbert can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the Great Survey of England compiled in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book mentions several individuals with the name Thelbert, including landowners and tenants.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Thelbert. One such person was Thelbert, a Benedictine monk who lived in the 11th century and served as the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England. Another was Thelbert of Cerne, a 9th-century Benedictine monk and scholar from Cerne Abbey in Dorset, England, known for his contributions to the study of astronomy and mathematics.
In the 12th century, there was Thelbert of Ferrières, a French Benedictine monk and scholar who served as the Abbot of Ferrières Abbey in Normandy. He was known for his writings on theology and philosophy, and his commentary on the Book of Revelation.
Another notable figure was Thelbert of Malmesbury, a 12th-century English Benedictine monk and historian from Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. He is best known for his historical work, the Gesta Regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings), which chronicled the reigns of English monarchs from the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain to the early 12th century.
While the name Thelbert was once relatively common in England and parts of Europe during the medieval period, it has become quite rare in modern times. However, it remains a unique and historically significant name that reflects the rich linguistic and cultural heritage of the Anglo-Saxon world.
People
Thelbert + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thelbert 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
Thelbert: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thelbert?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thelbert 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 1,264,776 US residents.
Is Thelbert a common name?
We classify Thelbert as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 931 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thelbert most popular?
The single biggest year for Thelbert was 1921, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thelbert is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thelbert in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 294 people with the name Thelbert, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,893 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 Thelbert 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 Thelbert?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thelbert leans strongly male. 294 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 8 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Thelbert?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thelbert is White at 64.3%. The next largest groups are Black (31.3%) and Hispanic (2.0%). 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 Thelbert most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thelbert in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.3% (189 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 Thelbert in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thelbert a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thelbert in the SSA data are male. 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 Thelbert still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thelbert 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 Thelbert 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 people have Thelbert as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.