Baby name
REVIVING
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇧🇷 Thelma
/THEL · mah/
Meaning
“Invented by novelist Marie Corelli for”
Invented by novelist Marie Corelli for her 1887 novel Thelma: A Norwegian Princess; no ancient etymology, though possibly influenced by Greek thelema meaning 'will'.
Nicknames
thel · theta
Vibe
warm
How it ages.
Early-20th-century literary invention; ages as a period piece with the warmth of retro revival potential.
The cultural moment.
Common in the US and UK from the 1900s through 1950s; reviving slightly in the UK as a grandmother name.