Tamerlan
A masculine name of Persian origin meaning "iron warrior" or "illustrious leader".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Tamerlan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tamerlan today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamerlan births was 2018 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamerlan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tamerlan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2018
5 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,899
Tracked since 2018
Popularity
Tamerlan: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Tamerlan 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 Tamerlan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamerlan
The given name Tamerlan has its origins in the Persian language and is derived from the name Timur, which means "iron" or "steel." The name Tamerlan is a variant spelling and pronunciation of the name Timur, and it is particularly associated with the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur, also known as Tamerlane, who ruled over a vast empire in Central Asia and parts of the Middle East in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
The name Tamerlan first gained prominence in connection with Timur, who was born in 1336 in the city of Kesh (now part of Uzbekistan). Timur's birth name was Timur Lenk, with "Lenk" meaning "lame" in Persian, as he had a physical disability due to an injury sustained during his youth. Over the course of his military campaigns and conquests, he became known as Timur or Tamerlane, a derivation of his name that was adopted in various languages and cultures he encountered.
In Persian and Turco-Mongol literary works and historical chronicles, Timur is often referred to as Tamerlan or Tamerlane, reflecting the adaptation of his name in different linguistic and cultural contexts. The name Tamerlan has been used in various literary works, including Christopher Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine the Great" (1590), which dramatized the life and conquests of Timur.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tamerlan or its variants. These include:
1. Tamerlan Tsarnaev (1986-2013), a Kyrgyz-American who, along with his brother Dzhokhar, carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
2. Tamerlan Ennagnonou (born 1990), a French professional mixed martial artist.
3. Tamerlan Aguzarov (born 1978), a Russian professional boxer and kickboxer.
4. Tamerlan Tmenov (born 1978), a Russian professional boxer.
5. Tamerlan Dzhaparidze (born 1991), a Russian professional mixed martial artist.
While the name Tamerlan is primarily associated with the legacy of the historical figure Timur and his conquests, it has also been adopted by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, reflecting the enduring influence and legacy of this significant historical figure and the spread of his name across different regions and cultures.
People
Tamerlan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamerlan 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
Tamerlan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamerlan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamerlan 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Tamerlan a common name?
We classify Tamerlan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamerlan most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamerlan was 2018, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamerlan is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Tamerlan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tamerlan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tamerlan 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 Tamerlan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tamerlan 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 Tamerlan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Tamerlan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.