Meaning and background
The story behind Theodore
Theodore goes back to Greek Theodoros, formed from the words for “god” and “gift”. It has an extensive recorded history, including early Christian saints and later English use. The common short forms Theo and Teddy have very different sounds, which gives Theodore a longer, formal option without changing the underlying name family.
- Origin
- From Greek Theodoros, “gift of God”, combining the words for god and gift. Source
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About Theodore
Recorded as a dog’s name
Theodore appears in 64 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/θiədɔɹ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/θiədɔɹ/ · primary stress on syllable 1TH IY1 AH0 D AO2 R
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.