Tabithia
A feminine name of Aramaic origin meaning "gazelle" or "gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 154 living Americans carry the first name Tabithia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tabithia today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tabithia births was 1984 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tabithia. 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
154
~ 1 in 2,225,678 Americans
Peak year
1984
13 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1995 SSA rank
#15,472
Tracked since 1969
Census
Tabithia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Tabithia, which placed it at #43,512 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tabithia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabithia is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Tabithia described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Tabithia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 116
- Black or African American15.4% · 25
- Two or more races6.8% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
Popularity
Tabithia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tabithia from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 94 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
Tabithia 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 Tabithia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tabithia
The name Tabithia is derived from the Aramaic name "Tavitha," which is a variation of the Hebrew name "Tzvidah," meaning "gazelle." The name is believed to have originated in the Middle East during ancient times.
In the New Testament of the Bible, there is a reference to a woman named Dorcas, whose Greek name was Tabitha. She was a disciple from the town of Joppa who was known for her charitable works and was miraculously resurrected by the Apostle Peter.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tabithia dates back to the 4th century AD, when a Christian martyr named Tabitha was venerated in Carthage, located in present-day Tunisia.
In the 12th century, Tabitha was the name of a Benedictine abbess who served at the Abbey of Romsey in Hampshire, England. She is known for her contributions to the abbey's library and her efforts in preserving historical documents.
During the 16th century, Tabitha Babbington was an English woman who lived in Leicestershire. She gained notoriety for her involvement in a well-known court case concerning the inheritance of her family's estate.
In the 17th century, Tabitha Holten was a Quaker missionary who traveled extensively throughout the American colonies, preaching and advocating for religious freedom.
Tabitha Cadbury, born in 1773, was a British Quaker and the wife of John Cadbury, the founder of the famous Cadbury chocolate company. She played a significant role in the company's early development and was known for her philanthropic efforts.
People
Tabithia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tabithia 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
Tabithia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tabithia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 154 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tabithia 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 2,225,678 US residents.
Is Tabithia a common name?
We classify Tabithia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 165 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tabithia most popular?
The single biggest year for Tabithia was 1984, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tabithia is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tabithia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Tabithia, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Tabithia in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Tabithia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tabithia leans strongly female. 172 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Tabithia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabithia is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.4%) and Two or More Races (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Tabithia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tabithia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (116 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Tabithia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tabithia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tabithia 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.
Is Tabithia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tabithia in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Tabithia can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people have Tabithia as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.