Meaning of the nameTelma
- Female
- Tel-ma
Telma is a feminine name that Behind the Name links to Telmo or to Thelma, a name of uncertain origin, and that Wiktionary relates to Santelmo.
Meaning
The meaning of Telma is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.
- People (2022)
- 53,549
- Rank in Brazil
- #540
- Median age
- 51 years
- 2010 Census
- 60,314
- people
Telma in the 2022 Census
People with the first name Telma, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1970s (17,553 people).
53,315 women 234 men
Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.
Where the name Telma is most common
States with the highest share of people named Telma in the population, in the 2022 Census.
- Bahia 0.050%
- Amapá 0.045%
- Pará 0.042%
- Sergipe 0.038%
- Rio de Janeiro 0.032%
All states
| State | People | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| São Paulo | 13,218 | 0.030% |
| Bahia | 6,995 | 0.050% |
| Rio de Janeiro | 5,209 | 0.032% |
| Minas Gerais | 4,540 | 0.022% |
| Pará | 3,369 | 0.042% |
| Paraná | 2,286 | 0.020% |
| Pernambuco | 2,164 | 0.024% |
| Goiás | 1,925 | 0.027% |
| Maranhão | 1,583 | 0.023% |
| Ceará | 1,230 | 0.014% |
| Alagoas | 986 | 0.032% |
| Rio Grande do Norte | 960 | 0.029% |
| Espírito Santo | 948 | 0.025% |
| Santa Catarina | 908 | 0.012% |
| Amazonas | 870 | 0.022% |
| Distrito Federal | 843 | 0.030% |
| Mato Grosso | 832 | 0.023% |
| Sergipe | 829 | 0.038% |
| Paraíba | 747 | 0.019% |
| Rio Grande do Sul | 720 | 0.007% |
| Mato Grosso do Sul | 664 | 0.024% |
| Piauí | 531 | 0.016% |
| Rondônia | 382 | 0.024% |
| Amapá | 327 | 0.045% |
| Tocantins | 314 | 0.021% |
| Roraima | 98 | 0.015% |
| Acre | 71 | 0.009% |
States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.
About the name Telma
Behind the Name says that Telma is either a Portuguese form of Thelma or the feminine of Telmo. Telmo comes from a mistaken division of the Spanish Santelmo, 'Saint Elmo'. Thelma, in turn, is a literary creation of the nineteenth century, from a Swedish novel, and its meaning is unknown; Wiktionary rejects the popular link with the Greek thélēma, 'will'. For that reason the meaning of Telma is not known for certain. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 53,549 people named Telma, with a median age of 51. Proportionally, it is most common in Bahia.
This is the Portuguese spelling, without the th, and the most common in the group; almost always female.
Other spellings of Telma
| Spelling | People (2022) |
|---|---|
| Telma | 53,549 |
| Thelma | 3,966 |
Sources
- Behind the Name: Telma · behindthename.com · origin
- Behind the Name: Telmo · behindthename.com · origin
- Wiktionary: Thelma · en.wiktionary.org · origin
- Behind the Name: Thelma · behindthename.com · origin
- Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Telma · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling
Questions about the name Telma
What does the name Telma mean?
The meaning of Telma is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.
How many people are named Telma in Brazil?
IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 53,549 people with the first name Telma, which ranks it number 540 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1970s.
Is Telma a boy's or a girl's name?
Telma is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 53,315 women and 234 men had this name.
In which Brazilian state is Telma most common?
Proportionally, in Bahia: 0.050% of the state's population is named Telma (6,995 people), according to the 2022 Census.
What are the other spellings of Telma?
Thelma. IBGE counts each spelling separately.
Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Telma with a source. See the methodology.