Tamiyah
An Arabic feminine name meaning "virtuous" or "perfect one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,277 living Americans carry the first name Tamiyah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tamiyah today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamiyah births was 2007 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamiyah. 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 Tamiyah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Tamiyah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 268,406 Americans
Peak year
2007
81 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,572
Tracked since 1995
Census
Tamiyah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 814 people with the first name Tamiyah, which placed it at #14,472 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
#14,472
National first-name rank
People counted
814
814 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tamiyah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamiyah is Black at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.5%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Tamiyah 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 Tamiyah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.4% · 736
- Two or more races5.5% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 19
- White0.9% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Tamiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tamiyah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 541 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tamiyah 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 Tamiyah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamiyahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Tamiyah, while Texas, South Carolina, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamiyah
The name Tamiyah is of Arabic origin and is a variation of the more common name Tamia or Tamiya. The name is believed to have roots dating back to the 7th century, during the early days of Islam, when the Arabic language and culture were spreading across the Middle East and North Africa.
The name Tamiyah is derived from the Arabic word "tamma," which means "to complete" or "to perfect." It is thought that the name was originally given to girls who were considered a completion or perfection of their family or a blessing from God. The name may also have connections to the Arabic word "tamimi," which refers to the Banu Tamim, an ancient Arab tribe known for their bravery and strength.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Tamiyah can be found in the writings of the renowned Islamic scholar and theologian, Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328 CE). He was a prominent figure in the history of Islamic thought and is considered one of the most influential thinkers of the Sunni tradition.
Throughout history, the name Tamiyah has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest known was Tamiyah bint al-Muizz (11th century CE), a princess and daughter of the Fatimid caliph, al-Muizz li-Din Allah. She was known for her intelligence and literary talents and is said to have played a significant role in the cultural life of the Fatimid court.
Another notable figure was Tamiyah al-Baghdadiyah (12th century CE), a renowned female poet and scholar from Baghdad. She was celebrated for her skill in the Arabic language and her contributions to the literary and intellectual circles of her time.
In the 13th century, Tamiyah bint al-Rashid (1192-1259 CE) was a prominent figure in the court of the Ayyubid dynasty in Syria. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for education and scholarship.
More recently, Tamiyah Farid (1938-2010) was an influential Egyptian singer and actress. She was a celebrated performer of Arabic music and appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career, which spanned several decades.
Lastly, Tamiyah Nayel (born 1977) is a contemporary Palestinian-American poet and writer. She has published several collections of poetry and has been recognized for her contributions to the representation of Arab and Muslim voices in literature.
While the name Tamiyah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, it has since been embraced by various communities around the world, reflecting the diverse and richly interconnected histories of different cultures and civilizations.
People
Tamiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamiyah 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
Tamiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,277 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamiyah 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 268,406 US residents.
Is Tamiyah a common name?
We classify Tamiyah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,292 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamiyah was 2007, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamiyah is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tamiyah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 814 people with the name Tamiyah, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,472 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 Tamiyah 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 Tamiyah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tamiyah appears almost entirely female. Of the 810 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Tamiyah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamiyah is Black at 90.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.5%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Tamiyah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tamiyah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (736 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 Tamiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tamiyah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tamiyah 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 Tamiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tamiyah 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 Tamiyah 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 are called Tamiyah?
Find out how many people share the name Tamiyah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.