Tabytha
A feminine name of Aramaic origin meaning "gazelle" or "graceful".
Name Census estimates that about 478 living Americans carry the first name Tabytha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tabytha today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tabytha births was 2000 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tabytha. 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
478
~ 1 in 717,059 Americans
Peak year
2000
31 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2014 SSA rank
#14,405
Tracked since 1982
Census
Tabytha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 431 people with the first name Tabytha, which placed it at #22,918 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
#22,918
National first-name rank
People counted
431
431 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tabytha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabytha is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Tabytha 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 Tabytha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.6% · 326
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 50
- Black or African American4.9% · 21
- Two or more races4.6% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 7
Popularity
Tabytha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tabytha from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 201 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
Tabytha 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 Tabytha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tabythas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Tabytha, while Virginia, Ohio, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tabytha
The name Tabytha is derived from the Aramaic word "tavyitha," which means "gazelle." It has its roots in the ancient Aramaic language, which was spoken in the Middle East during the first millennium BC and was the lingua franca of the region during the time of the Persian Empire.
This name is mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible, specifically in the book of Acts. According to the biblical account, Tabytha was a disciple from the town of Joppa (modern-day Jaffa, Israel) who was known for her charitable works and good deeds. When she fell ill and died, the apostle Peter was summoned, and he miraculously brought her back to life, an event that is said to have led many people to believe in Jesus Christ.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Tabytha was Tabytha Palaiologina, a Byzantine princess who lived in the 13th century. She was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos and was married to the Grand Prince of Tver, Mikhail Yaroslavich.
Another notable Tabytha in history was Tabytha Wayt, a 17th-century English Quaker preacher and writer. She was born in 1624 and actively promoted the Quaker faith, traveling extensively throughout England and publishing several religious works.
In the realm of literature, Tabytha is the name of a character in the novel "Pamela" by Samuel Richardson, published in 1740. Tabytha was the name of Pamela's faithful servant and confidante, playing a significant role in the novel's plot.
A more recent historical figure with the name Tabytha was Tabytha Stevens, an American abolitionist and suffragist who lived from 1781 to 1876. She was a prominent advocate for the abolition of slavery and the rights of women, and her home in Windham, Connecticut, became a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Tabytha Hatt was a British actress and singer who lived from 1887 to 1966. She appeared in numerous productions in London's West End and on Broadway, and was known for her portrayal of comic roles in operettas and musicals.
People
Tabytha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tabytha 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
Tabytha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tabytha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 478 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tabytha 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 717,059 US residents.
Is Tabytha a common name?
We classify Tabytha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 491 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tabytha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tabytha was 2000, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tabytha is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tabytha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 431 people with the name Tabytha, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,918 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 Tabytha 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 Tabytha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tabytha appears almost entirely female. Of the 428 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Tabytha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tabytha is White at 75.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.6%) and Black (4.9%). 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 Tabytha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tabytha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.6% (326 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 Tabytha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tabytha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tabytha 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 Tabytha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tabytha 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 Tabytha 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 share the name Tabytha?
You can see how many Americans are named Tabytha on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.