Tabbitha
A feminine name of Aramaic origin meaning "gracious" or "gazelle".
Name Census estimates that about 667 living Americans carry the first name Tabbitha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tabbitha today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tabbitha births was 1991 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tabbitha. 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
667
~ 1 in 513,875 Americans
Peak year
1991
42 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2014 SSA rank
#18,916
Tracked since 1966
Popularity
Tabbitha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tabbitha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 254 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tabbitha 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 Tabbitha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tabbithas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Tabbitha, while Illinois, California, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tabbitha
The name Tabbitha is derived from the Aramaic word "tavitha," which means "gazelle." It is believed to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which is now modern-day Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey. The name has been recorded in various forms, including Tabitha, Tabatha, and Tabetha, over the centuries.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Tabbitha is found in the New Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Acts, there is a woman named Dorcas or Tabitha, who was a disciple of Jesus and was known for her charitable works. She lived in the city of Joppa (now Jaffa, Israel) and was raised from the dead by the apostle Peter.
During the Middle Ages, the name Tabbitha was relatively uncommon in Europe, but it did appear in some historical records. One notable bearer of the name was Tabbitha of Arles, a Christian martyr who lived in the 4th century AD in what is now southern France.
In the 16th century, the name Tabbitha gained some popularity among Puritans in England. One of the earliest recorded instances was Tabbitha Marbury, born in 1583, who was the sister of Anne Hutchinson, a prominent figure in the Antinomian Controversy in colonial Massachusetts.
Another notable figure with the name Tabbitha was Tabbitha Brackett, an American Puritan midwife and healer who lived in the late 17th century in what is now Maine. She was known for her skill in delivering babies and treating various ailments.
In the 18th century, Tabbitha Tenney was an American educator and author who wrote one of the earliest books on grammar for children, titled "The American Instructor's Assistant," published in 1784.
During the 19th century, the name Tabbitha remained relatively uncommon, but there were still a few notable individuals who bore it. One example was Tabbitha Fisk, an American abolitionist and teacher who was active in the anti-slavery movement in the mid-1800s.
Overall, while not a widely popular name throughout history, Tabbitha has had a notable presence in various cultures and time periods, particularly in religious and historical contexts. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, and it has been used in various forms across different regions and eras.
People
Tabbitha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tabbitha 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
Tabbitha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tabbitha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tabbitha 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 513,875 US residents.
Is Tabbitha a common name?
We classify Tabbitha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 699 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tabbitha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tabbitha was 1991, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tabbitha is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tabbitha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tabbitha 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.