Thelonious
About Thelonious
One of the coolest of names, thanks to legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk, who inherited this Latin-sounding German name from his father. It has been used very sparingly since the 1960's, with just a sprinkling of baby boys receiving the name each year, though it's one of the unique baby names we predict will get much less unique as more parents embrace its quirky charms.
Monk's middle name Sphere is pretty unique too, a cousin of Cosmos and Cosmo.
As of October 2026, Thelonious ranked #7144 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #2767 in 1965, Nameberry popularity #130.
Editor's take: The name Thelonious is a boy's name of German, Latin origin meaning "people".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | #4,685 | 21 | 11 |
| 2016 | #4,922 | 20 | 10.5 |
| 2017 | #4,448 | 23 | 12.4 |
| 2018 | #4,901 | 20 | 11 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | #4,481 | 23 | 13.1 |
| 2022 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | — | 0 | 0 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Thelonious.
- Cosimo
- Beowulf
- Faust
- Ichabod
- Ollivander
- Bran
- Zebulon
- Othello
- Deveraux
- Honoré
- Thelonius
- Anastasio
- Pascale
- Nestor
- Tybalt
- Absalom
- Fidelis
- Galileo
- Montague
- Quintus
Thelonious on lists
Famous Theloniouss
- Thelonious Sphere Monk
American jazz pianist and composer
Thelonious in pop culture
- Thelonious Jaha
character on "The 100"
- Thelonious Jagger "TJ" Kippen
character on "Andi Mack"