Taletha
An Arabic feminine name meaning "little lamb" or "gazelle".
Name Census estimates that about 223 living Americans carry the first name Taletha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Taletha today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taletha births was 1980 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taletha. 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
223
~ 1 in 1,537,015 Americans
Peak year
1980
22 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1994 SSA rank
#11,643
Tracked since 1967
Census
Taletha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 262 people with the first name Taletha, which placed it at #32,242 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
#32,242
National first-name rank
People counted
262
262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Taletha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taletha is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (39.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Taletha 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 Taletha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.6% · 130
- White39.7% · 104
- Two or more races6.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Taletha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taletha from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Taletha 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 Taletha 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 Taletha
The name Taletha is believed to have its origins in ancient Aramaic, a Semitic language that was widely spoken in the Middle East during the time of Jesus Christ. It is derived from the Aramaic word "talitha," which means "little girl" or "young maiden."
In the New Testament of the Bible, the name Taletha appears in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus is recorded as using the phrase "Talitha koum" (or "Talitha cumi" in some translations) to raise a young girl from the dead. This phrase is often translated as "Little girl, I say to you, arise."
The earliest known person recorded with the name Taletha was Saint Taletha, a 3rd-century Christian martyr who is venerated in the Catholic Church. According to tradition, she was born in modern-day Turkey and was tortured and executed for her faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Another notable figure with the name Taletha was Taletha Hollingsworth, an American abolitionist and suffragist who lived in the 19th century. She was born in 1828 and worked tirelessly to promote the abolition of slavery and women's rights to vote.
In the 20th century, Taletha Coles Stern was an American author and historian known for her works on African American history and culture. She was born in 1924 and authored several books, including "The Black Mosaic: Essays in Afro-American History and Historiography."
Taletha Derrington was a British actress and singer who gained fame in the 1960s and 1970s for her roles in television shows and musicals. She was born in 1939 and appeared in productions such as "Finian's Rainbow" and "The Pal Joey Story."
Taletha Renee Hollie was an American poet and educator who lived from 1951 to 2001. She was known for her works that explored themes of identity, spirituality, and social justice, including the collections "Soulful Divas" and "Passion, Honor, and Respect."
While the name Taletha has its roots in ancient Aramaic and Christian tradition, it has been used across various cultures and time periods, often carrying connotations of youth, innocence, and resilience.
People
Taletha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taletha 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
Taletha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taletha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 223 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taletha 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 1,537,015 US residents.
Is Taletha a common name?
We classify Taletha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 242 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taletha most popular?
The single biggest year for Taletha was 1980, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taletha is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Taletha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 262 people with the name Taletha, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,242 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 Taletha 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 Taletha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Taletha appears almost entirely female. Of the 262 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Taletha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taletha is Black at 49.6%. The next largest groups are White (39.7%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Taletha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Taletha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (130 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 Taletha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Taletha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taletha 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 Taletha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Taletha 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 Taletha 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 Taletha?
Want to know how many Americans are named Taletha? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.