Althea

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Althea is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hindi given name1.4K records spelled Althea7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, India, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Sinhala

  Also written Althéa

56 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Althea is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, weibl. Vom. griechischen Ursprungs (griech. Althaia), in der griechischen Mytho­ logie Name der Gemahlin des Königs Oineus von Kalydon, die durch das tragische Schick­ sal ihres Sohnes Meleager bekannt wurde.

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Althea Gylesb. 1868GBGyles, Margaret Alethea [known as Althea Gyles] (1868–1949), artist and poet
• Althea Henleyb. 1911USAmerican film actress (1911-1996)
• Louise Broughb. 1923USnot in their usual nameAmerican tennis player (1923–2014)
• Althea Gibsonb. 1927USAmerican tennis player (1927-2003)
• Lila Fenwickb. 1932USnot in their usual nameAmerican lawyer and human rights official (1932-2020)
• Althea Currierb. 1941USAmerican actress and model
• Kim Gordonb. 1953USnot in their usual nameAmerican musician and artist, most known as co-founding member of Sonic Youth (born 1953)
• Althea Flyntb. 1953USMagazine publisher (1953–1987)
• Marcella Liburdb. 1953KNnot in their usual nameKittitian politician
• Althea Reinhardtb. 1996DKDanish handball player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 292 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Althea?

We estimate roughly 12 thousand people bear Althea (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Althea have the most bearers?

Althea is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled althea.

Where is Althea most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Althea is densest in Guyana — about 1 in 1.7 thousand people — even though Philippines holds more of our records for it.

How common is Althea compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Althea is the 506th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Althea a male or female name?

Althea is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Althea mean?

Recorded meaning: Any of several plants of the genus Althaea; the hollyhocks and mallows, native to Eurasia.