Timothy

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Timoteo in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, PE Peru and 3 more and Timotheus in PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 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◐

Timothy is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Swahili given name135K records spelled Timothy9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Timotheo

• Russian given name42K records spelled Timothy165 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Тимофей, Tymoteusz, Тимофій, Tymofii, Тимофеи

• Hindi given name38K records spelled Timothy10 spellings in the group

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

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Sinhala

  Also written Timothi, Timathi, টিমোথি

• Indonesian given name26K records spelled Timothy11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, Nigeria

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, English

  Also written Timotius, 'Timothy, Timötius, Timoetius

• Hungarian given name14K records spelled Timothy4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, Finland, United Kingdom

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Tímóthy

71 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●

Timothy is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• The name Timothy is of Greek origin, meaning "honoring God." It is a classic biblical name associated with loyalty, faith, and youthful dedication, borne by the trusted companion of the Apostle Paul.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• The name Timothy comes from the Greek name Τιμόθεος (Timotheos), which means "honouring God" or "honoured by God".

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In English, Greek for “honour God”; borne by an early Greek musician of Alexander the Great.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, Greek/Hebrew: honouring God or honoured by God.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• English form of the Greek name Timotheos, from timé ‘honour’ + theos ‘god’. This was the name of a companion of St Paul; according to tradition, he was stoned to death for denouncing the worship of Diana. It was not used in England before the Reformation. Short form: Tim. Pet form: Timmy.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

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●

• Timothy Spallb. 1957GBEnglish actor
• Tim Kaineb. 1958USnot in their usual nameAmerican lawyer and politician (born 1958)
• Tim Cookb. 1960USnot in their usual nameAmerican business executive, Apple CEO
• George Clooneyb. 1961USnot in their usual nameAmerican-French actor and filmmaker (born 1961)
• Tim Walzb. 1964USnot in their usual nameAmerican politician (born 1964)
• Tim Duncanb. 1976USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player (born 1976)
• Benedict Cumberbatchb. 1976GBnot in their usual nameEnglish actor (born 1976)
• Tim Cahillb. 1979AUnot in their usual nameAustralian association football player
• Tim Howardb. 1979USnot in their usual nameAmerican soccer player (born 1979)
• Landon Donovanb. 1982USnot in their usual nameAmerican soccer 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 · 1,321 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Timothy?

We estimate roughly 850 thousand people bear Timothy (counting its spellings and scripts) across 5 countries in our records.

In which country does Timothy have the most bearers?

We estimate about 802 thousand people bear Timothy in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled timothy.

How common is Timothy compared with other names?

In the United States, Timothy is the 52nd most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Timothy a male or female name?

Timothy is a male 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 Timothy mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) from the biblical male personal name Timothy, from Greek Timotheos 'honour god'; (ii) a name substituted for Tomelty.