Given name & surname
Timo
“one who honors God”·“one who is famous”
Timo is a variant of Timothy. One Greek interpretation is “one who honors God.” In German use, Timo is a diminutive of Dietmar. One German interpretation is “one who is famous.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Timo is a variant of Timothy. One Greek interpretation is “one who honors God.” In German use, Timo is a diminutive of Dietmar. One German interpretation is “one who is famous.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Timo is a variant of Timothy. An origin associated with Timothy is Greek. In German use, Timo is a diminutive of Dietmar. An origin associated with Dietmar is Germanic.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Ingrian usage, Timo developed from Тимофей. In German usage, Timo is a diminutive of Dietmar.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1961. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Timo through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 274
- 274 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 17 babies
- 2025
- 6
- #11,853 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +26%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 11,853 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 26.1% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 779 as a first name in 2020; 236 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Timo’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Timo has a diminutive in TIMI. In Ingrian usage, Timo developed from the Russian form Тимофей. Timo has a related form in Timothy.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Timo has relatives in 7 languages.
13 related names in 7 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 12
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Timo
- Timo WernerGerman association football player (born 1996)
- Timo GlockGerman racing driverborn 1982
- Timo BollGerman table tennis playerborn 1981
- Timo HildebrandGerman association football playerborn 1979
- Timo SoiniFinnish politicianborn 1962
- Timo HornGerman association football playerborn 1993
- Timo BaumgartlGerman association football playerborn 1996
- Timo MeierSwiss ice hockey playerborn 1996
- Timo KotipeltoFinnish singerborn 1969
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Timo, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.