Entry № 10525 · Greek origin

Themistoclea Themistoclea — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ theh-mis-toh-KLEE-ah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Pythagoras's teacher"
Syllables
5
First recorded
Ancient (Greek)

A name that means "pythagoras's teacher".

Themistoclea (Θεμιστόκλεια, 6th c. BCE) was the priestess of Apollo at Delphi who taught Pythagoras his moral doctrines — making her the earliest known female philosopher and one of the figures of Western thought.

Mentioned in Diogenes Laërtius and Porphyry of Tyre.

Pythagoras's teacher. The earliest known female philosopher.

The name in its native script.

Θεμιστόκλεια
Transliteration
Themistókleia
Pronunciation
/ ˌθɛm.ɪs.toʊˈkliː.ə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Themistoclea stands.

Themistoclea does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Themistocleas before her.

Real people
Themistoclea
Priestess of Delphi, Pythagoras's teacher.
6th c. BCE
In fiction
Themistoclea
Featured in Diogenes Laërtius.
3rd c. CE

Names connected to Themistoclea.

The number behind Themistoclea.

4

The Builder

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Themistoclea reduce to 4, The Builder. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.