Tabatha
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew word meaning "gazelle".
Name Census estimates that about 17,973 living Americans carry the first name Tabatha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tabatha today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tabatha births was 1983 (837 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tabatha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,071 Americans
Peak year
1983
837 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,458
Tracked since 1965
Popularity
Tabatha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tabatha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 7,289 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tabatha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Tabatha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tabathas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Tabatha, while Utah, North Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 386 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tabatha
The name Tabatha is a feminine given name derived from the Aramaic name תַּבִּיתָא (Tabbitha), which itself may have originated from the Semitic root word meaning "gazelle" or "graceful". It is closely related to the Greek name Δορκάς (Dorcas), which has the same meaning and appears in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tabitha (the Latinized spelling of Tabbitha) dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was mentioned in the Bible's Acts of the Apostles 9:36. This passage refers to a woman named Tabitha, a disciple who lived in Joppa and was known for her good works and acts of charity. After her death, she was miraculously brought back to life by the apostle Peter.
Throughout history, the name has been spelled in various ways, including Tabitha, Tabytha, Tabbitha, and Tabatha. The latter spelling, Tabatha, became more common in the English-speaking world during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Tabatha was Tabatha of Gwynedd, a 6th-century Welsh princess and saint. Another notable figure was Tabatha Corry (c. 1758-1828), an Irish author and playwright who was a prominent figure in the literary circles of Dublin.
In the 19th century, Tabatha Spruce Henley (1823-1904) was an American educator and philanthropist who founded the Henley School for Young Ladies in Tennessee. Around the same time, Tabatha Twitchit was a fictional character in the children's books by Beatrix Potter, first appearing in "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers" in 1908.
In more recent times, Tabatha Coffey (born 1969) is an Australian hairstylist and television personality best known for hosting the reality shows "Tabatha's Salon Takeover" and "Relative Success with Tabatha".
While not as common as some other names, Tabatha has maintained a presence throughout history, with its origins rooted in ancient Aramaic and its meaning associated with grace and beauty.
People
Tabatha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tabatha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tabatha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tabatha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tabatha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 19,071 US residents.
Is Tabatha a common name?
We classify Tabatha as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,398 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tabatha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tabatha was 1983, when 837 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tabatha is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tabatha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tabatha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.