| Calliope | Thea | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Beautiful voice | Goddess |
| Origin | greek | Greek |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | kuh-LY-uh-pee | THEE-ah |
| Syllables | 4 | 2 |
| First appeared | 1917 | 1880 |
| Peak year | 2025 (682) | 2018 (1,209) |
| In 2025 | 682 | 867 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Calliope | Thea |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 3,336 | 5,908 |
| 2010s | 2,339 | 6,408 |
| 2000s | 287 | 1,362 |
| 1990s | 55 | 952 |
| 1980s | 11 | 1,022 |
| 1970s | 5 | 1,008 |
| 1960s | 0 | 1,099 |
| 1950s | 10 | 1,027 |
| 1940s | 0 | 431 |
| 1930s | 5 | 207 |
| 1920s | 43 | 254 |
| 1910s | 7 | 157 |
| 1900s | 0 | 87 |
| 1890s | 0 | 105 |
| 1880s | 0 | 86 |
From Greek Kalliopē, from kallos 'beauty' + ops 'voice', literally 'beautiful-voiced'. The name of the Muse of epic poetry; the 'beauty' root (kallos) is explicit.
Thea means “goddess” in Greek and is also a short form of Dorothea.
Thea is more popular than Calliope today: about 867 US babies were given the name Thea in 2025, compared with 682 named Calliope.
Calliope means Beautiful voice (greek origin), while Thea means Goddess (Greek origin).
In US records, Calliope first appears in 1917 and Thea in 1880, so Thea has the longer recorded history.