Entry № 10531 · Greek origin

Theodora Theodora — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ thee-uh-DOR-ah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Gift of God"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Greek)

A name that means "gift of god".

Theodora is the feminine form of Theodore — from the Greek theos (god) and doron (gift), meaning "gift of God." It is the name of the most famous Byzantine empress: Theodora (c.

Theodora was popular in the 19th century, faded for most of the 20th, and is returning as part of the broader revival of long classical names. The short form Theo is unisex and has been rising fast. Today Theodora sits in the U.S. top 600.

Gift of God. A Byzantine empress's name.

The name in its native script.

Θεοδώρα
Transliteration
Theodōra
Pronunciation
/ θiː.əˈdɔːr.ə /
Root
Grammatical form

What Theodora is built from.

Theodora is a compound name. Its parts are theós + dōron — each an attested element with a recorded meaning of its own.

theós
Greek
“god”
dōron
Greek
“gift”

Where Theodora stands.

Theodora 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.

Theodoras before her.

Real people
Empress Theodora
Byzantine empress. Wife of Justinian I.
c. 500 – 548
Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark
Royal of the Greek royal family.
born 1983
In fiction

Names connected to Theodora.

The number behind Theodora.

5

The Seeker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Theodora reduce to 5, The Seeker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.