Thelma

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Thelma: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Thelma: Recorded since 1945, with a gap of 18 years, it reached #134 in 2022, and it stood at #168 in 2025.

3registrars recorded it
76times a registrar ranked it
81years from first to last
#134highest recorded position
18groupings it qualifies for

What stands out in Thelma's record

Absent from every published list for 18 years inside its own recorded period, then ranked again. Names by longest absence

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1998–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1998	#3848
1999	#3900
2000	#3247
2001	#3262
2002	#3409
2004	#2530
2005	#3970
2006	#2320
2007	#3667
2010	#4012
2012	#4838
2014	#4684
2015	#4736
2016	#4763
2017	#2925
2018	#3178
2019	#4001
2020	#3899
2021	#5581
2022	#4645
2023	#3598
2024	#4192

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in Norway in 28 of the 81 years from 1945 to 2025.

In 2024: #152 among girls in Norway, #4192 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1945–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1945
First recorded at #365 among girls in Norway in 1945 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
Norway · Girls
Highest recorded1945–2025
Highest recorded position: #134 among girls in Norway, in 2022 (recorded 1945–2025).
Norway · Girls
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #168 among girls in Norway, in 2025.
Norway · Girls

Thelma appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is Norway · Girls, which has ranked it in 28 years beginning in 1945, and has registered 587 births with the name.

Thelma across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Thelma's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
Norway · Girls	#365 (1945)	#134 (2022)	#168 (2025)	28 of 81	587 (1945–2025)	37 (2022)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#300 (1964)	#232 (1975)	#457 (1991)	26 of 28	228 (1964–1991)	17 (1975)
England and Wales · Girls	#3848 (1998)	#2320 (2006)	#4192 (2024)	22 of 27	107 (1998–2024)	9 (2006)

Thelma by decade in Norway · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Thelma in Norway · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1940s	4	1 of 10	4
1990s	6	1 of 10	6
2000s	140	10 of 10	14
2010s	249	10 of 10	25
2020sbusiest	188	6 of 10	31

Across Norway · Girls, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 6 years of it this list covers, averaging 31 births a year.

See the names Norwayhas recorded the most births with →

Thelma appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1945 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #134 in Norway in 2022.

Thelma's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	female	#4192	5	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#3598	6	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#4645	4	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#5581	3	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#3899	5	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#4001	5	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#3178	7	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#2925	8	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#4763	4	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#4736	4	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#4684	4	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#4838	4	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#4012	5	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#3667	5	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#2320	9	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#3970	4	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#2530	7	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#3409	4	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#3262	4	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#3247	4	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#3900	3	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#3848	3	High	Verified
2025	Norway	female	#168	30	High	Verified
2024	Norway	female	#152	32	High	Verified
2023	Norway	female	#164	31	High	Verified
2022	Norway	female	#134	37	High	Verified
2021	Norway	female	#146	32	High	Verified
2020	Norway	female	#186	26	High	Verified
2019	Norway	female	#152	34	High	Verified
2018	Norway	female	#207	25	High	Verified
2017	Norway	female	#210	25	High	Verified
2016	Norway	female	#280	18	High	Verified
2015	Norway	female	#202	28	High	Verified
2014	Norway	female	#229	25	High	Verified
2013	Norway	female	#255	22	High	Verified
2012	Norway	female	#284	18	High	Verified
2011	Norway	female	#215	26	High	Verified
2010	Norway	female	#211	28	High	Verified
2009	Norway	female	#237	23	High	Verified
2008	Norway	female	#277	19	High	Verified
2007	Norway	female	#291	17	High	Verified
2006	Norway	female	#281	17	High	Verified
2005	Norway	female	#297	16	High	Verified
2004	Norway	female	#320	14	High	Verified
2003	Norway	female	#323	13	High	Verified
2002	Norway	female	#357	11	High	Verified
2001	Norway	female	#561	5	High	Verified
2000	Norway	female	#574	5	High	Verified
1996	Norway	female	#551	6	High	Verified
1945	Norway	female	#365	4	High	Verified
1991	Republic of Ireland	female	#457	4	High	Verified
1989	Republic of Ireland	female	#445	4	High	Verified
1988	Republic of Ireland	female	#492	3	High	Verified
1987	Republic of Ireland	female	#310	10	High	Verified
1986	Republic of Ireland	female	#275	13	High	Verified
1985	Republic of Ireland	female	#242	16	High	Verified
1984	Republic of Ireland	female	#320	9	High	Verified
1983	Republic of Ireland	female	#331	9	High	Verified
1982	Republic of Ireland	female	#523	3	High	Verified
1981	Republic of Ireland	female	#299	12	High	Verified
1980	Republic of Ireland	female	#297	12	High	Verified
1979	Republic of Ireland	female	#303	12	High	Verified
1978	Republic of Ireland	female	#331	9	High	Verified
1977	Republic of Ireland	female	#296	11	High	Verified
1976	Republic of Ireland	female	#312	9	High	Verified
1975	Republic of Ireland	female	#232	17	High	Verified
1974	Republic of Ireland	female	#300	9	High	Verified
1973	Republic of Ireland	female	#305	10	High	Verified
1972	Republic of Ireland	female	#285	10	High	Verified
1971	Republic of Ireland	female	#289	9	High	Verified
1970	Republic of Ireland	female	#296	8	High	Verified
1969	Republic of Ireland	female	#303	7	High	Verified
1968	Republic of Ireland	female	#287	7	High	Verified
1967	Republic of Ireland	female	#288	6	High	Verified
1965	Republic of Ireland	female	#325	4	High	Verified
1964	Republic of Ireland	female	#300	5	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Norway hub — collected by Statistics Norway (SSB)
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1945 and 2025, ranked in 56 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #134, first reached in 2022.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 37 births, registered in Norway in 2022.

Its record falls into 6 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 18 years.

A second registrar first ranked it in 1964, and 53 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Theadora · #623, 29y
Theia · #333, 20y
Theo · #4, 37y
Theo-James · #949, 14y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Maura · #136, 58y
Katarina · #138, 61y
Jayne · #139, 53y
Aislinn · #126, 56y

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1940 and 1949.

Ester · #134, 77y
Karstein · #134, 36y
Yngvar · #134, 40y
Brith · #135, 25y

Thelma was ranked #134 in Norway · Girls in 2022. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Thelma and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Thelma without appearing here.

Thelma moved ahead of

Helene Compare
In 2016 they stood at #4736 and #4103 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2017 that had become #2925 and #5765.
Ollie Compare
In 2005 they stood at #3970 and #3970 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #2320 and #5061.
Jayden Compare
In 2017 they stood at #4012 and #1731 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2018 that had become #3178 and #5666.
Kristin Compare
In 2017 they stood at #4763 and #4763 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2018 that had become #3178 and #5666.

Moved ahead of Thelma

Fiadh Compare
In 2014 they stood at #4684 and #5691 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2015 that had become #4736 and #2705.
Liv Compare
In 2001 they stood at #3247 and #3912 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2002 that had become #3409 and #2105.
Malin Compare
In 2011 they stood at #3409 and #4137 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #4838 and #3681.
Eabha Compare
In 2009 they stood at #2320 and #5061 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2010 that had become #4012 and #3156.

Moved the opposite way to Thelma

Anita Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 while Anita went from #162 to #459.
Anne Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 while Anne went from #1 to #159.
Åse Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 while Åse went from #25 to #93.
Aud Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 while Aud went from #13 to #427.

Moved the same way as Thelma

Ada Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 and Ada from #229 to #18.
Alma Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 and Alma from #293 to #8.
Elise Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 and Elise from #223 to #63.
Ella Compare
Between 1945 and 2025 in Norway · Girls, Thelma went from #365 to #168 and Ella from #137 to #4.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1945 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #134 in Norway in 2022. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Thelma

Thelma at a glance

What stands out in Thelma's record

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Thelma across 3 official records

Thelma by decade in Norway · Girls

Thelma appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Names published alongside Thelma

Thelma and the names beside it

Thelma moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Thelma

Moved the opposite way to Thelma

Moved the same way as Thelma

Thelma at a glance

What stands out in Thelma's record

Thelma across 3 official records

Thelma by decade in Norway · Girls

Thelma appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1940s

Names published alongside Thelma

Thelma and the names beside it

Thelma moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Thelma

Moved the opposite way to Thelma

Moved the same way as Thelma