Given name & surname
Timothy
“one who honors God”
Timothy is used as a given name, a surname, and a nickname. One Greek interpretation is “one who honors God.”
Original Ancient GreekΤιμόθεος
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “one who honors God.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
From Middle French Timothée, from Latin Tīmotheus, from Ancient Greek Τῑμόθεος.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Timothy appears in Acts 16:1, 2 Timothy 3:15, Acts 16:1-3 and 6 other passages.
- Acts 16:1
- 2 Timothy 3:15
- Acts 16:1-3
- Philippians 2:19-22
- 1 Timothy 1:2
- Acts 17:14
- 1 Thessalonians 3:2
- Acts 19:22
- 1 Timothy 1:18
From biblical name research
Timothy through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,088,520
- 1,084,192 boys · 4,328 girls
- Most popular year
- 1959
- 30,862 babies
- 2025
- 1,734
- #203 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −22%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 1,734 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 203 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 22.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 30,783 in 1959. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (152). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 802,946 as a first name in 2020; 2,883 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.
Timothy’s family of names
In English usage, Timothy has a diminutive in Tim. Timothy shares a linguistic root with Timoteo. Timothy has a related form in Timmy.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Timothy has relatives in 31 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Timothy comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 29
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Timoteovariant · Italian, Spanish
- Timdiminutive · English, Norwegian
- Timofeyvariant
- Timmydiminutive · English
- Timmothyvariant
- Timovariant · Finnish, Estonian
- Timothielikely variant
- Timothhylikely variant
Show 21 moreShow fewer
- Timmiepet form · English
- Tymothyvariant
- Tymoteuszvariant · Polish
- Timotheusvariant · German, Latin
- Timotheyvariant · French
- Timotheovariant
- Timofeivariant
- Timothyelikely variant
- Timbodiminutive · English
- Timblinpet form · English
- Timongdiminutive · ceb
- Timpsonshort form · English
- Timoydiminutive · ceb
- Timmonickname · English
- Timoleonvariant
- Timotheosvariant
- Timinvariant
- Tymmothyvariant
- Timothévariant · French
- Timofeovariant
- Tyomapet form
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 30
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- ΤιμόθεοςAncient Greek, Greek
- TadhgIrish
- Tymofiiequivalent
- Tymofiydoublet · English
- Timotheafeminine form
- Timotyequivalent
- ܛܝܡܬܐܘܣequivalent
- Тимоѳейequivalent
Show 22 moreShow fewer
- Цімафейequivalent
- تيموثاوسequivalent
- Timmuequivalent
- Timotéequivalent
- ТимотиRussian
- ТимофейRussian
- ThimothéeFrench
- ThimothéFrench
- ThimotéFrench
- Timoteusequivalent
- ТимотейBulgarian
- ТимофійUkrainian
- KimokeoHawaiian
- TímóteusIcelandic
- ՏիմոթեոսArmenian
- TimóteoPortuguese
- TīmotiMāori
- TimotejSlovak, Slovene
- Timothéecognate · French, nrf
- TimoteuCatalan
- TimotiusIndonesian
- TimoteiRomanian
See also 5
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Timothy
- Tim Berners-LeeEnglish computer scientist (born 1955)
- Tim BurtonAmerican filmmaker and artist (born 1958)
- Tim CookAmerican business executive, Apple executive chairmanborn 1960
- Timothy DaltonBritish actor of stage, film and televisionborn 1946
- Tim WalzAmerican politician (born 1964)
- Tim CahillAustralian association football playerborn 1979
- Tim RothBritish actorborn 1961
- Tim DuncanAmerican basketball player (born 1976)
- Timothy LearyAmerican psychologist (1920–1996)
Characters named Timothy: Tim Drake (DC Comics character), Reverend Lovejoy (fictional character and singer from The Simpsons franchise), Timmy Turner (fictional character and the protagonist of the Nickelodeon animated series The Fairly OddParents), Timothy McGee (the television series NCIS).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Timothy, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Titius
Titius is a surname. It is used in Latin.
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Philip
“one who loves horses”
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“as solid and strong as a rock”
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Iscariot
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