How popular is the baby name Tillo in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Tillo.

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Popularity of the baby name Tillo


Posts that mention the name Tillo

Where did the baby name Thelonious come from in the 1960s?

Jazz musician Thelonious Monk (1917-1982)
Thelonious Monk

Ever wonder about Thelonious Monk’s distinctive first name?

The jazz great inherited the name from his father, Thelonious Monk, Sr., who was born in North Carolina in 1889. No one knows for sure how his father came to have the name, but I’ve seen some good guesses:

  • Biographers Jacques Ponzio and Francois Postif think Thelonious comes from Thelonius, a Latinized form of the German name Tillman/Tillmann, which would had been brought to the Carolinas by German missionaries.
  • Biographer Robin D. G. Kelley suggests it was based on the name of St. Tillo, a 7th-century Benedictine monk. “In France he is called St. Theau, […] and in Germany he was referred to as Hilonius.”
  • Author Sam Stephenson brings up the possibility that it was inspired by “a renowned black minister in nearby Durham, North Carolina, Fredricum Hillonious Wilkins.”

The name Thelonious started popping up in the U.S. baby name data in the 1960s, when Monk was at the height of his fame:

  • 1968: 9 baby boys named Thelonious
  • 1967: unlisted
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: 10 baby boys named Thelonious
  • 1964: 7 baby boys named Thelonious
  • 1963: 6 baby boys named Thelonious
  • 1962: unlisted
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: 5 baby boys named Thelonious [debut]
  • 1959: unlisted

Since then, hundreds of baby boys have received the name. (And a handful of others have gotten the spelling Thelonius.)

What are your thoughts on the name Thelonious?

Sources:

  • Fitterling, Thomas. Thelonious Monk: His Life and Music. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books, 1997.
  • Kelley, Robin D. G. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. New York: Free Press, 2009.
  • Stephenson, Sam. “Thelonious Monk: Is This Home?” Oxford American 2007 Music Issue: 112-117.

Image: Adapted from Thelonious Monk (public domain)