Timmothy
Derived from the Greek Timotheos, meaning "honoring God" or "honored by God".
Name Census estimates that about 3,666 living Americans carry the first name Timmothy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Timmothy today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Timmothy births was 1960 (134 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Timmothy. 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.
People living today
3.7K
~ 1 in 93,495 Americans
Peak year
1960
134 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,000
Tracked since 1941
Census
Timmothy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,686 people with the first name Timmothy, which placed it at #6,082 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
#6,082
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,686 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Timmothy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timmothy is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Timmothy 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 Timmothy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 2,054
- Black or African American10.9% · 293
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 154
- Two or more races4.1% · 110
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 20
Popularity
Timmothy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Timmothy from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,097 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Timmothy 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 Timmothy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Timmothys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Timmothy, while Colorado, Oregon, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Timmothy
The name Timmothy is derived from the Greek name Timotheos, which means "honoring God" or "honored by God." The name has its origins in Ancient Greece, where it was a popular name among the Christian community during the early days of the religion.
Timmothy is a variant spelling of the more common Timothy, which is the English version of the Greek name. The spelling "Timmothy" is thought to have emerged in the late Middle Ages, possibly as a result of regional dialects or scribal errors in copying texts.
One of the earliest and most notable individuals to bear the name Timmothy was Saint Timothy, a disciple of the Apostle Paul mentioned in the New Testament. Timothy was a devoted companion of Paul and played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity in the first century AD.
In the 4th century AD, Timmothy of Gaza was a Christian martyr and saint who was tortured and executed for his faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire. His martyrdom is commemorated in various Christian traditions.
During the Renaissance period, Timmothy Bright (c. 1551-1615) was an English physician and writer known for his contributions to the field of medicine and his works on topics such as melancholy and spiritual concerns.
In the 18th century, Timmothy Dexter (1747-1806) was an eccentric American businessman and philanthropist from Newburyport, Massachusetts. He amassed a considerable fortune through various entrepreneurial ventures and was known for his unconventional behavior and generous donations to charitable causes.
Another notable figure with the name Timmothy was Timmothy Shelley (1753-1844), an English author and playwright who was a contemporary of the Romantic poets. He wrote several plays and literary works, although he is overshadowed by his more famous son, the renowned poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Timmothy, demonstrating its longevity and use across different cultures and time periods.
People
Timmothy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Timmothy 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
Timmothy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Timmothy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,666 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Timmothy 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 93,495 US residents.
Is Timmothy a common name?
We classify Timmothy as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,101 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Timmothy most popular?
The single biggest year for Timmothy was 1960, when 134 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Timmothy is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Timmothy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,686 people with the name Timmothy, or 0.89 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,082 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 Timmothy 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 Timmothy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Timmothy appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,689 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Timmothy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Timmothy is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.9%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Timmothy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Timmothy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (2,054 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 Timmothy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Timmothy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Timmothy 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 Timmothy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Timmothy 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 Timmothy 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 are named Timmothy?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Timmothy, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.