How rare is the name Thelma?

53,801 people in the United States have the first name Thelma, about 1 in 5,614. It ranks #853 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

THELMA

#853

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
53,801
About
1 in 5,614
This common or more
67.7%
Who bears it

Of the 53,801 people named Thelma, 50.7% reported their origin as White, 28.5% as Black and 13% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Thelma peaked in 1921, when 7,871 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
7,871
In 2025*
29 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 226,602 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Thelma by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #48. The largest share of babies named Thelma, 58.3%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1,44376
1890s#2502,396
1900s#5518,344
1910s#4857,284
1920s#6369,101
1930s#12036,530
1940s#26220,333
1950s#44311,812
1960s#7015,923
1970s#1,2562,158
1980s#2,0051,170
1990s#3,444687
2000s#6,469379
2010s#9,376239
2020s#8,230170
Before 19011.6%
Greatest Generation 1901–2758.3%
Silent Generation 1928–4527%
Baby boom 1946–6410%
Generation X 1965–802%
Millennials 1981–960.7%
Generation Z 1997–120.3%
2013 and later0.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Thelma is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Thelma has been most common in West Virginia (3.1×), Kentucky (2.6×), and Arkansas (2.6×), and least common in Nevada (0.07×).

201,924 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Thelma

#851 Marta · 53,965#852 Sidney · 53,874#854 Dallas · 53,582#855 Yvette · 53,499

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