Althea
Althea is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 160 births. Its best rank was 356th, in 1920.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1600.01% of girls
- Peak year
- 1956389 births
- Best rank
- #356in 1920
- Since 1880
- 17,807people given the name
The story in the numbers
17,807 girls have been named Althea in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1956, with 389 births.
This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1951, and the 1950s alone account for 17%. It has spent 93 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Althea | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 156 | |
| 1890s | 323 | |
| 1900s | 496 | |
| 1910s | 2,014 | |
| 1920s | 2,591 | |
| 1930s | 1,472 | |
| 1940s | 1,275 | |
| 1950s | 3,015 | |
| 1960s | 1,791 | |
| 1970s | 1,002 | |
| 1980s | 592 | |
| 1990s | 492 | |
| 2000s | 627 | |
| 2010s | 1,160 | |
| 2020s | 801 |
In 1956, its biggest year
Althea was the 475th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1956 were Mary, Debra, Linda, Deborah and Susan. See all of 1956.
Names that rose and fell with Althea
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Esterpeak 1925
- Alethapeak 1923
- Catherinepeak 1956
- Millicentpeak 1927
- Dorcaspeak 1923
- Celestinepeak 1952
- Annepeak 1959
- Zenobiapeak 1923
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.