Théophile

given name · Latin script

Meaning: Greek theophilos, from theos « god » + philos « friend »

Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

/teɔfil/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated

Théophile is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Rwanda than in any other country, where it is the 38th most common given name.

rarermore common
  • FRFrance≈1 in 15K(inferred from the name graph)
  • RWRwanda≈1 in 1.4K
  • CMCameroon≈1 in 3.6K

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Théophile itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

Rwanda (inferred from the name graph)

≈9,200 people, est.

Sources
254 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 1.4K (inferred from the name graph)

Rwanda, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

3 other spellings are counted as the same name:

Locally spelled Theophile in FR France, US United States, CM Cameroon and 3 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

Greek theophilos, from theos « god » + philos « friend ».

Sources 1

  • Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Attested across 22 languages in the etymology graph.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Théophile counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Théophile is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
RW Rwanda#38≈9,200 est.≈1 in 1.4K—Theophile9
CM Cameroon#266≈7,800 est.≈1 in 3.6K1Theophile24
CD Congo - Kinshasa#471≈7,400 est.≈1 in 14K4Theophile11
FR France#947≈4,400 est.≈1 in 15K14KTheophile254
MG Madagascar#684≈3,100 est.≈1 in 8.7K—Théophile10
US United States—1,790as Theophilus1 in 186K1.8KTheophile93
TG Togo#67≈1,000 est.≈1 in 8.4K1Theophile9

Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024); Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Assemblee Nationale du Cameroun — sitting-MP roster, 10eme legislature (2020-2025); Journal Officiel — Liste definitive des candidats (legislatives 2024); Wikidata humans by citizenship — given & family names. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Théophile is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • English given name10 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia

    Languages: English, German, Dutch

    Also written Theophile, Thèophile

  • a separate name2 spellings in the group

    Also written Theophile

  • French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name2 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

    Also written Theophile

  • French (Burkina Faso) given name2 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Burkina Faso

    Also written Theophile

  • Portuguese given name3 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Angola, Belgium

    Also written Theophile, Thèophile

  • Hindi given name4 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Cameroon, India

    Also written Theophile

29 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses(measured from records)

Théophile is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • In French, Theophilus (addressee in the New Testament)

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  • In French, Du grec theophilos, « aimé de Dieu »; fête de saint Théophile.

    as a nameDictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

  • In French, Du grec Theophilos, « ami de Dieu ».

    as a nameLe grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

  • In French, Origine grecque, « qui aime Dieu ».

    as a nameLe grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

150016001700180019002000Théophile de Viau, b. 1590Rene Laennec, b. 1781Jules Pelouze, b. 1807Théophile Aube, b. 1826Théophile Ferré, b. 1846Théophile Homolle, b. 1848Théophile Delcassé, b. 1852Charles Angrand, b. 1854Théophile de Donder, b. 1872René Girard, b. 1923

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them(machine-generated)

InformalBonjour Théophile,Hi Théophile, (English)

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 18 sources across 12 countries.

Official registers attesting Théophile
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
FR FranceINSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024)20242.1K#634
CD Congo - KinshasaWikidata humans by citizenship — given & family names—4#186
CM CameroonAssemblee Nationale du Cameroun — sitting-MP roster, 10eme legislature (2020-2025)20201#5
FR FranceDictionary of French Prénoms (Benoist, 2009)———

Reference works 4

  • Wikipedia given-name tokens
  • Wikipedia surname tokens
  • Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
  • jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

Is Théophile a male or female name?
Théophile is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
What does the name Théophile mean, and where does it come from?
Greek theophilos, from theos « god » + philos « friend ». Recorded by Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education).
What are other forms of the name Théophile?
In the etymology graph, Theo, Teofilo and Theophilus are forms of the same name in other languages.
How do you pronounce Théophile?
A machine transcription gives /teɔfil/ (IPA) for French.
In which country does Théophile have the most bearers?
Mondonomo estimates about 9.2 thousand people named Théophile in Rwanda, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled theophile.
How common is the name Théophile?
In the United States, the national register counted 1,790 people named Theophilus in 2020, about 1 in 186 thousand residents.
How common is Théophile compared with other names?
In Rwanda, Théophile is the 38th most common given name of 862 given names recorded there.

What do you want to know about Théophile?

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/th%C3%A9ophile

The payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Théophile” — the 38th most common given name in Rwanda. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Théophile parses inside a full name →