Tami
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "serene" or "peaceful."
Name Census estimates that about 31,924 living Americans carry the first name Tami. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tami today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tami births was 1959 (2,746 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tami. 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 Tami with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tami is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 90 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Tami have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,737 Americans
Peak year
1959
2,746 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1982 SSA rank
#7,254
Tracked since 1942
Census
Tami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 32,381 people with the first name Tami, which placed it at #1,205 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
#1,205
National first-name rank
People counted
32K
32,381 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tami is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.3%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Tami 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 Tami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.2% · 28,553
- Two or more races3.3% · 1,056
- Black or African American3.2% · 1,049
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 843
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 630
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 250
Gender
Gender distribution for Tami
Out of the 38,004 babies given the name Tami since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Tami as a male name
- Ranked #7,254 in 1982
- 5 male births in 1982
- Peak: 1947 (8 births)
Tami as a female name
- Ranked #13,288 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (2,741 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tami appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,380 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Tami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tami from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 18,463 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tami 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 Tami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Ohio, Washington recorded the most babies named Tami, while Delaware, Vermont, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 704 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tami
The name Tami is believed to have its origins in the Japanese language, where it is a diminutive form of the name Tamiko. Tamiko itself is derived from the Japanese words "tami," meaning "people," and "ko," meaning "child."
According to historical records, the name Tami first appeared in Japan during the Heian period (794-1185 CE). It was a popular name among the Japanese nobility and aristocracy during this time. The earliest recorded example of the name Tami can be found in the Pillow Book, a collection of observations and anecdotes written by the 11th-century Japanese court lady Sei Shōnagon.
In the 12th century, the name Tami gained popularity in other parts of East Asia, particularly in Korea and China, where it was adopted as a variation of the Japanese name Tamiko. It is believed that the name spread to these regions through cultural exchanges and trade between the countries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Tami. One of the earliest was Tami no Miko, a Japanese princess who lived in the 7th century CE and was known for her patronage of Buddhism. Another famous bearer of the name was Tami Yuki, a 16th-century Japanese poet and calligrapher who was renowned for her mastery of the tanka form of poetry.
In more recent times, the name Tami has been associated with several accomplished women. Tami Stronach, an American actress born in 1972, is best known for her role as the Childlike Empress in the 1988 film "The NeverEnding Story." Tami Chynn, born in 1974, is an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films.
Another notable bearer of the name is Tami Roman, an American reality television personality and actress born in 1970. She is best known for her appearances on the reality shows "Basketball Wives" and "The Real World: Los Angeles." Tami Reiker, born in 1959, is an American author and screenwriter who has written several acclaimed novels and screenplays, including "The Opposite of Love."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tami
People
Tami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tami 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
Tami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31,924 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tami 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 10,737 US residents.
Is Tami a common name?
We classify Tami as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38,004 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tami most popular?
The single biggest year for Tami was 1959, when 2,746 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tami is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 32,381 people with the name Tami, or 10.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,205 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 Tami 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 Tami?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tami appears almost entirely female. Of the 32,380 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Tami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tami is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.3%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Tami most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (28,553 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 Tami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tami a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Tami 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 Tami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tami 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 Tami 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 share the name Tami?
Want to know how many people share the name Tami? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.