Tameka
A feminine name of African origin meaning "beautiful worker".
Name Census estimates that about 11,815 living Americans carry the first name Tameka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tameka today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tameka births was 1977 (1,031 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tameka. 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
12K
~ 1 in 29,010 Americans
Peak year
1977
1,031 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1984 SSA rank
#6,230
Tracked since 1965
Gender
Gender distribution for Tameka
Out of the 12,771 babies given the name Tameka since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tameka as a male name
- Ranked #6,230 in 1984
- 6 male births in 1984
- Peak: 1977 (10 births)
Tameka as a female name
- Ranked #16,565 in 2011
- 6 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1977 (1,021 births)
Popularity
Tameka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tameka from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 6,401 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
Tameka 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 Tameka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamekas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Georgia, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Tameka, while Washington, Iowa, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 361 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tameka
The name Tameka has its origins in the West African Yoruba language. It is a combination of the words "Tam" meaning "to join" and "eka" meaning "wealth." The name first appeared in written records around the 18th century in the region of modern-day Nigeria and Benin.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tameka can be found in the historical records of the Oyo Empire, a powerful Yoruba state that existed from the 16th to the 19th century. These records mention a woman named Tameka who was a prominent trader and diplomat in the empire during the late 18th century.
In the 19th century, the name Tameka gained popularity among the Yoruba diaspora in the Americas, particularly in the Caribbean and Brazil. One notable figure was Tameka Santos, a Brazilian abolitionist and activist who fought against slavery in the 1860s.
As the African-American community grew in the United States, the name Tameka became more widely adopted in the 20th century. One of the earliest recorded African-American women with this name was Tameka Williamson, a jazz singer and pianist who performed in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable figure was Tameka Norris (1919-2001), an American civil rights activist who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and played a significant role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956.
In more recent history, Tameka Empson (born 1977) is a British actress and comedian who has appeared in numerous television shows and stage productions. Additionally, Tameka Cottle (born 1975), better known by her stage name Tiny, is an American singer-songwriter and reality television personality.
People
Tameka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tameka 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
Tameka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tameka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,815 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tameka 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 29,010 US residents.
Is Tameka a common name?
We classify Tameka as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,771 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tameka most popular?
The single biggest year for Tameka was 1977, when 1,031 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tameka is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tameka a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Tameka 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.
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.