Thao
Thao was last recorded in 2025, when 5 babies were given it; 1,237 Americans have been recorded with it between 1975 and 2025 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,200 Americans named Thao and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 30 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Thao by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Thao?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,210, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
73 babies in 1984, the peak
Thao peaked in 1984, when 73 babies were given it (58 girls, #1,865 among girls’ names). The 5 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 5 | #13,682 | |
| 2017 | 5 | #18,210 | under 5 | |
| 2015 | 5 | #18,864 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 7 | #14,437 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,467 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 5 | #19,291 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 9 | #12,057 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 10 | #11,180 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 7 | #15,103 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 12 | #10,026 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 13 | #9,497 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 8 | #13,505 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,852 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 11 | #9,837 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 16 | #7,177 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 16 | #7,016 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 18 | #6,296 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 20 | #5,683 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 29 | #4,076 | 5 | #11,434 |
| 1998 | 27 | #4,227 | 5 | #11,134 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,499 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 37 | #3,223 | 5 | #10,387 |
| 1995 | 29 | #3,766 | 5 | #10,176 |
| 1994 | 45 | #2,742 | 9 | #6,307 |
| 1993 | 44 | #2,761 | 9 | #6,169 |
| 1992 | 48 | #2,605 | 13 | #4,538 |
| 1991 | 41 | #2,876 | 16 | #3,796 |
| 1990 | 51 | #2,430 | 11 | #4,951 |
| 1989 | 38 | #2,918 | 16 | #3,594 |
| 1988 | 31 | #3,217 | 9 | #5,164 |
| 1987 | 55 | #2,042 | 8 | #5,405 |
| 1986 | 45 | #2,296 | 9 | #4,808 |
| 1985 | 50 | #2,133 | 7 | #5,710 |
| 1984 | 58 | #1,865 | 15 | #3,090 |
| 1983 | 47 | #2,130 | 12 | #3,608 |
| 1982 | 35 | #2,698 | 13 | #3,465 |
| 1981 | 39 | #2,483 | 6 | #6,176 |
| 1980 | 26 | #3,313 | 13 | #3,413 |
| 1979 | 22 | #3,652 | 6 | #5,976 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,912 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 10 | #6,307 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 10 | #6,015 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,965 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Thao a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,237 Americans recorded as Thao, 84% are girls and 16% boys. In 2025 it went to 5 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Thao: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Thao, and how old are they?
1,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,237 Americans ever recorded as Thao. The median Thao alive today is 36 years old; half are between 30 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 11,993 people named Thao (10,133 women and girls, 1,860 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,205 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10.0 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 101 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 828 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 242 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 29 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Thao born?
The states with the most babies named Thao are California, Texas and Louisiana, with 97% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 346 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Texas | 101 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Louisiana | 27 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Colorado | 5 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Washington | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Minnesota | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Thao is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Thao is most over-represented in California: since 1975 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Thao with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Thao
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Thao and names like it
- Compare Thao and CatlinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sThao peaked in 1984.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Thao since 1910.
- The top names of 1984The year the most babies were named Thao.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Thao alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with TMost given first.