Theodore

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “god’s gift.”

The name is derived from the Greek Theodoros (Θεοδωρος) which is composed of the elements θεος (theos) meaning “god” and δωρον (doron) “gift.” The name was borne by several early saints, two popes and three tsars of Russia.

In recent American history the name was borne by President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) of whom the Teddy Bear was named for.

It is currently the 263rd most popular male name in the United States, (2010).

An interesting fact: Dorothy is derived from the same Greek roots but in reverse order.

Other forms of the name include:

• Tewodros ተውዶሮስ (Amharic)
• Tadros تادرس (Arabic: used among Arab Christians)
• Todos ܛܘܕܘܫ (Aramaic: used among Assyrian and Chaldean Christians)
• Hvejdar Хведар (Belarusian)
• Teodor Теодор (Bulgarian/Catalan/Croatian/Czech/Danish/Estonian/Finnish/Hungarian/Polish/Romanian/Scandinavian/Slovakian/Slovene/Ukrainian)
• Todor (Bulgarian/Serbiab/Northern Greek)
• Theirn (Cajun)
• Theodoor (Dutch)
• Theodorus (Dutch/Latin)
• Theodore თევდორე (English/Georgian)
• Tuudor (Estonian)
• Teuvo (Finnish)
• Théodore (French)
• Theodor (German)
• Theodoros Θεόδωρος (Greek)
• Thodoros Θόδωρος (Greek)
• Fedor (Hungarian)
• Tivadar (Hungarian)
• Tódor (Hungarian)
• Téodóir (Irish)
• Teodoro (Italian/Portuguese/Spanish)
• Todaro (Italian)
• Teodors (Latvian)
• Thei (Limburgish)
• Teodoras (Lithuanian)
• Toše Тоше (Macedonian)
• Tiodore (Occitanian)
• Toader (Romanian)
• Tudor (Romanian/Welsh)
• Fedor Федор (Russian/Slovene)
• Fjodor Фёдор (Russian)
• Teodoru (Sicilian)
• Fedja (Slovene)
• Todor (Slovene)
• Fedir Федір (Ukrainian)
• Tewdwr/Tudur (Welsh)

Common diminutives include:

• Tosho Тошо (Bulgarian)
• Toshko Тошко(Bulgarian)
• Ted/Teddy (English)
• Tedo თედო (Georgian)
• Fedja Федя (Russian)

Its feminine form of Theodora was very popular in Byzantium, it was borne by at least five Byzantine Empresses including Empress Theodora who is also revered as a saint.

Other feminine forms include:

• Teodora Теодора თეოდორა (Bulgarian/Catalan/Crotian/Georgian/Italian/Macedonian/Polish/Portuguese/Romanian/Serbian/Slovene/Spanish/Swedish)
• Todorka Тодорка (Bulgarian/Macedonian)
• Theodora Θεοδώρα (Czech/English/German/Greek)
• Theda (English/German)
• Théodora (French)
• Teodóra (Hungarian)
• Fedora Федора (Russian/Slovene)
• Feodora Феодора (Russian)