Tacoma
A Spanish name likely referring to the Native American word "tahoma".
Name Census estimates that about 240 living Americans carry the first name Tacoma. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Tacoma today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tacoma births was 2002 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tacoma. 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
240
~ 1 in 1,428,143 Americans
Peak year
2002
38 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,070
Tracked since 1971
Gender
Gender distribution for Tacoma
Tacoma leans heavily male at 82.9% of total registrations, but 42 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tacoma as a male name
- Ranked #14,070 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2002 (32 births)
Tacoma as a female name
- Ranked #20,229 in 2007
- 5 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1977 (10 births)
Popularity
Tacoma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tacoma from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 142 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tacoma 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 Tacoma 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 Tacoma
The given name Tacoma originates from the Lushootseed language, spoken by several Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The name is derived from the word "Tacobet," meaning "mother of waters" or "waters to be drawn from." It is believed to have been coined by the Puyallup tribe to describe the glacial waters flowing from Mount Rainier into the nearby Puget Sound.
Tacoma was initially used by the Puyallup people to refer to the area now known as Commencement Bay, near the present-day city of Tacoma, Washington. The name gained prominence in the mid-19th century when European settlers arrived in the region and established the town of Tacoma in 1864.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tacoma was in the journal of British explorer George Vancouver, who visited the area in 1792 and noted the name as "Tah-cho-bet" in his writings. The name also appeared in various treaties and land transactions between the Native American tribes and the United States government in the 19th century.
Throughout history, a few notable individuals have borne the name Tacoma. Tacoma Narrows (1802-1868) was a prominent member of the Puyallup tribe and a signatory of the Medicine Creek Treaty in 1854, which ceded much of the tribe's land to the United States. Chief Tacoma (c. 1770-1858) was a leader of the Puyallup tribe and a respected figure among the Native American communities of the Pacific Northwest.
In more recent times, Tacoma Fukushima (1910-2001) was a Japanese-American artist known for her woodblock prints and paintings depicting the internment camps during World War II. Tacoma Jones (born 1982) is an American professional wrestler who has performed in various promotions, including WWE and TNA.
Additionally, the name Tacoma has been used in literature and popular culture. In the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, one of the characters is named Tacoma. The name has also been used for various businesses, organizations, and geographic locations, particularly in the Pacific Northwest region.
People
Tacoma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tacoma 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
Tacoma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tacoma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 240 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tacoma 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 1,428,143 US residents.
Is Tacoma a common name?
We classify Tacoma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 246 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tacoma most popular?
The single biggest year for Tacoma was 2002, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tacoma is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tacoma a male name?
Yes, 82.9% of people registered as Tacoma in the SSA data are male. 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.