Theodosia
An English feminine given name derived from Greek meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 537 living Americans carry the first name Theodosia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Theodosia today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Theodosia births was 1918 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Theodosia. 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 Theodosia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
537
~ 1 in 638,276 Americans
Peak year
1918
45 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,864
Tracked since 1880
Census
Theodosia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 653 people with the first name Theodosia, which placed it at #17,051 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
#17,051
National first-name rank
People counted
653
653 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Theodosia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theodosia is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (43.0%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Theodosia 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 Theodosia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.2% · 321
- Black or African American43.0% · 281
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 20
- Two or more races2.9% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Theodosia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Theodosia from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 300 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Theodosia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Theodosia 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 Theodosia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Theodosias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan recorded the most babies named Theodosia, while West Virginia, Indiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Theodosia
The name Theodosia has its roots in Ancient Greek, originating from the elements "theos" meaning God and "dosia" meaning gift or present. It can be translated to mean "gift of God" or "God-given". The name dates back to classical antiquity in the Hellenic world and was in use among Greek communities throughout the Mediterranean region from around the 5th century BC.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Theodosia, the wife of the Samnite leader Gaius Pontius who was captured after the Battle of the Caudine Forks in 321 BC during the Second Samnite War. The name also appears in early Christian writings, such as the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, which mentions a woman named Theodosia from Antioch in the 1st century AD.
In the 4th century AD, Theodosia was the name of the elder daughter of the Roman emperor Valentinian I and his wife Marina Severa. She was born around 365 AD and married the Vandal king Huneric in 385 AD. Another notable Theodosia from antiquity was the daughter of the philosopher Hermesinax, who lived in the late 4th or early 5th century AD.
During the Middle Ages, the name saw continued use among Greeks and was also adopted by some Western Europeans, particularly in Italy and Spain. One of the earliest known Western bearers was Theodosia, the wife of the Visigothic king Leovigild who ruled in the 6th century AD. In the 9th century, Theodosia was the name of a Byzantine empress, the second wife of Emperor Basil I.
In more recent history, Theodosia Burr (1783-1813) was the daughter of US Vice President Aaron Burr and was renowned for her education and accomplishments. Theodosia Trollope (1809-1863) was an English author and writer, best known for her book "Domestic Manners of the Americans". Theodosia Garrett (1845-1920) was an American educator and pioneering figure in the field of deaf education.
Other notable Theodosias include Theodosia Pickering (1763-1854), a member of the Pickering family of Massachusetts and a prominent social figure in her time, and Theodosia Ammons (1883-1975), an American quilter and folk artist whose quilts are now highly prized works of art.
People
Theodosia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Theodosia 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
Theodosia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Theodosia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 537 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Theodosia 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 638,276 US residents.
Is Theodosia a common name?
We classify Theodosia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,669 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Theodosia most popular?
The single biggest year for Theodosia was 1918, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Theodosia is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Theodosia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 653 people with the name Theodosia, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,051 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 Theodosia 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 Theodosia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Theodosia leans strongly female. 647 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 8 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Theodosia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Theodosia is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (43.0%) and Hispanic (3.1%). 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 Theodosia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Theodosia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (321 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 Theodosia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Theodosia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Theodosia 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 Theodosia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Theodosia 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 Theodosia 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 common is the name Theodosia?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.