Tais
An alternate transcription of the Greek name Thaïs, meaning "goddess of peace".
Name Census estimates that about 402 living Americans carry the first name Tais. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tais today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tais births was 2001 (95 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tais. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Tais with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
402
~ 1 in 852,623 Americans
Peak year
2001
95 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2015 SSA rank
#14,340
Tracked since 1991
Census
Tais in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 657 people with the first name Tais, which placed it at #16,975 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
#16,975
National first-name rank
People counted
657
657 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
57.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tais
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tais is Hispanic at 57.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.6%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Tais 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 Tais at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino57.1% · 375
- White32.6% · 214
- Black or African American5.2% · 34
- Two or more races2.9% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 15
Popularity
Tais: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tais from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 322 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
Tais 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 Tais during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tais' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Tais, while New Jersey, Illinois, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tais
The name Tais has its origins in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "thaïs," which means "a woman from Thaïs," referring to the ancient region of Thrace in modern-day Greece and Bulgaria.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tais can be found in the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato, who mentioned a courtesan named Tais in his work "The Symposium." This Tais was a renowned beauty and companion of the Athenian general Ptolemy I, who later became the ruler of Egypt.
In ancient Greek mythology, Tais was also the name of a nymph associated with the goddess Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. This connection to nature and the divine realm may have contributed to the name's popularity in ancient times.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Tais was Tais of Alexandria, a renowned Greek courtesan who lived in the 4th century BC. She was known for her beauty, wit, and influence over powerful men, including the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
Another notable Tais in history was Tais of Miletus, a Greek musician and dancer who lived in the 5th century BC. She was renowned for her performances and is mentioned in the writings of several ancient authors, including Herodotus and Athenaeus.
In the 16th century, the Italian poet and playwright Giambattista Giraldi Cinzio wrote a tragedy titled "Tais," which dramatized the life of the ancient courtesan. This work helped to keep the name alive in literary circles during the Renaissance period.
Other notable individuals named Tais throughout history include Tais Araújo, a Brazilian actress and model born in 1979, and Tais Valente, a Brazilian mixed martial artist born in 1985.
Overall, the name Tais has a rich history spanning over two millennia, with roots in ancient Greek culture, mythology, and literature, as well as later literary and artistic works that have helped to preserve its legacy.
People
Tais + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tais 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
Tais: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tais?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 402 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tais 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 852,623 US residents.
Is Tais a common name?
We classify Tais as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 409 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tais most popular?
The single biggest year for Tais was 2001, when 95 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tais is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tais in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 657 people with the name Tais, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,975 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 Tais 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 Tais?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tais leans strongly female. 643 people counted with this name were female (97.7%), compared with 15 male bearers (2.3%). 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 Tais?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tais is Hispanic at 57.1%. The next largest groups are White (32.6%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Tais most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Tais in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.1% (375 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 Tais in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tais a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tais 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 Tais still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tais 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 Tais 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 are named Tais?
Find out how many Americans are named Tais on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.