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Theo

From the Greek for "gift of god", and a boy's name through and through. Nearly unknown in Poland a decade back, it's climbing fast: more newborns got it last year than in any year before, yet it stays rare enough that most Poles have never met one.

Theo Pronunciation

Related names
Teodor Teodora
Alive in 2025
596
Newborns 2025
62
National rank
#1221

What Theo means

Where Theo comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Theo begins in Greek, from theos, meaning god, and doron, meaning gift. Put the two together and the sense is plain: gift of god, or dar boga. The name reached us as a short form of Theodore, and Polish keeps the longer shape as Teodor, with Teodora for a daughter.

The clipped Theo belongs mostly to English and German families. German literature holds a full Theodor in Fontane, the novelist behind Effi Briest, and the Dutch art trade remembers Theo van Gogh, the dealer who backed his brother Vincent. It fits a roll call. Two syllables, easy to write on any official form at the urząd.

When a Polish boy is entered as Teodor in a class register, the short Theo often follows him home from school. His imieniny will still read Teodor, and the meaning underneath stays the same: gift of god.

How many people are named Theo

1 in 35816 men in Poland is named Theo. 596 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1221 among male names.

People with the name Theo 2019 → 2025
596 +400 since 2019
2020 226 +30
2021 264 +38
2022 319 +55
2023 382 +63
2024 479 +97
2025 596 +117

Theo's popularity over time

62 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #315 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2011.

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62 newborns with the name Theo in 2025
national rank #315 that year

Where Theo is most popular

Theo is most popular in West Pomeranian, 75% above the national average (16 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+65%) and Lubusz (+49%). It is least common in Łódź and Podlaskie, 85% and 72% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Theo as a middle name

Theo is a first name for 596 men in Poland and a middle name for another 89, an 87/13 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 766th, between Pankracy (89) and Bernardyn (88).

As a first name
596
As a middle name
89
first name 87% middle name 13%
Middle-name ranking men

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Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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