Tajai
An invented name with no definite meaning or origin.
Name Census estimates that about 310 living Americans carry the first name Tajai. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Tajai today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tajai births was 1994 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tajai. 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
310
~ 1 in 1,105,659 Americans
Peak year
1994
34 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,891
Tracked since 1989
Census
Tajai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 286 people with the first name Tajai, which placed it at #30,451 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
#30,451
National first-name rank
People counted
286
286 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tajai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tajai is Black at 86.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Tajai 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 Tajai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.4% · 247
- White5.2% · 15
- Two or more races4.9% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Tajai
Tajai is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 317 total registrations, 170 (53.6%) were male and 147 (46.4%) were female.
Tajai as a male name
- Ranked #13,891 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1996 (21 births)
Tajai as a female name
- Ranked #17,400 in 2007
- 6 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1994 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tajai on both sides of the split. Of the 294 people counted with this name, 154 were male (52.4%) and 140 were female (47.6%).
Popularity
Tajai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tajai 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 173 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
Tajai 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 Tajai 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 Tajai
The name Tajai is a relatively modern name with roots in both African and Asian cultures. It is believed to have originated as a variant of the Swahili name Tajiri, which translates to "rich" or "wealthy." This connection suggests that the name Tajai may have been derived from cultures in East Africa, particularly in regions such as Kenya and Tanzania, where Swahili is widely spoken.
While the exact origin of the name Tajai is uncertain, it is thought to have emerged in the 20th century as a combination of various cultural influences. One possible source is the Hindi word "Taj," which means "crown" or "royal dignity." This could link the name to the Indian subcontinent and the rich cultural heritage associated with the Mughal Empire and iconic structures like the Taj Mahal.
The earliest recorded use of the name Tajai is difficult to pinpoint, as it is a relatively modern name. However, some historical figures have carried this name or variants of it. One notable example is Tajai Massey, an American artist and sculptor born in 1917, who was known for his work in the Harlem Renaissance movement. Another individual named Tajai is Tajai Rice, an American football player who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
While not an exhaustive list, other prominent individuals who have carried the name Tajai include Tajai Punyasavat, a Thai actress and model born in 1989, and Tajai Harewood, a British actor known for his roles in television shows like "The Split" and "Grantchester." Additionally, Tajai Johnson is an American basketball player who competed professionally in various leagues in the early 2000s.
It is worth noting that while the name Tajai is not as widely recorded in historical texts or scriptures as some more ancient names, its unique blend of cultural influences and modern appeal have contributed to its growing popularity in recent decades.
People
Tajai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tajai 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
Tajai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tajai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tajai 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 1,105,659 US residents.
Is Tajai a common name?
We classify Tajai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 317 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tajai most popular?
The single biggest year for Tajai was 1994, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tajai is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tajai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 286 people with the name Tajai, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,451 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 Tajai 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 Tajai?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tajai on both sides of the split. Of the 294 people counted with this name, 154 were male (52.4%) and 140 were female (47.6%). 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 Tajai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tajai is Black at 86.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (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 Tajai most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tajai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (247 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 Tajai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tajai a male name?
Yes, 53.6% of people registered as Tajai 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.
Is Tajai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tajai 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 Tajai 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 Americans are named Tajai?
See how many people have the name Tajai on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.