Ted

Where Ted comes from

Ted hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #505 among boys — 13 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1935
    Peak, #144
    1,085 babies named Ted — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1938
    Ted Turner born
    American media mogul
  4. 1947
    Ted Danson born
    American actor
  5. 1974
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #353.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Ted Turner · American media mogul, 1938–2026
  • Ted Danson · American actor, born 1947
  • Ted Ligety · American alpine skier, born 1984
  • Ted DiBiase Jr. · American professional wrestler and actor, born 1982
  • Ted Nelson · American information technologist, philosopher, and sociologist, born 1937

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.