Boy · Ancient Greek
Theophilus
Say it: thee-OF-ih-lus
Meaning
Greek Theophilos, 'friend of God' or 'loved by God'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Used occasionally by English and French Christians from the 17th to 19th centuries; rare today.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1880s
In the United States
- 2,147 babies given this name since 1882
- At its height in 1882, about 1 in 22,700 boys
- 41 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- Ancient Greece800 BC to 146 BC
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
Used by
The family of the name
| French | Théophile |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Teófilo |
| Italian | Teofilo |
| Portuguese | Teófilo |
| Polish | Teofil |
| Russian | Feofil |
| Greek | Theofilos |
| German | Gottlieb |
Famous bearers
- Theophilus, to whom Luke and Acts are addressed
- Théophile Gautier, French poet
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.