Tamsen
A feminine name meaning "twin" of Old English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 356 living Americans carry the first name Tamsen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tamsen today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamsen births was 1979 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamsen. 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
356
~ 1 in 962,793 Americans
Peak year
1979
23 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,368
Tracked since 1943
Popularity
Tamsen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tamsen from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 113 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tamsen 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 Tamsen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamsens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamsen
The name Tamsen is an English variant of the Hebrew name Thomasina, which is a feminine form of the name Thomas. The name Thomas itself is derived from the Aramaic name Te'oma, which means "twin". Tamsen was particularly popular in England and Scotland during the Middle Ages.
The earliest recorded example of the name Tamsen dates back to the 13th century. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Tamsen Troughton, an English landowner who lived in Yorkshire in the late 13th century.
In the 16th century, Tamsen Bainbridge was a prominent figure in the English Reformation. She was a Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake in 1558 for her religious beliefs.
During the 17th century, Tamsen Lewin was a notable Quaker preacher who traveled extensively throughout England and Wales, spreading the Quaker faith.
In the 18th century, Tamsen Whistler was an English writer and diarist. Her personal diary, which covered the years from 1752 to 1788, provides a valuable insight into the daily life of an upper-class woman during the Georgian era.
In the 19th century, Tamsen Donner was an American pioneer who gained notoriety as a member of the ill-fated Donner Party. She and her family were among the group of pioneers who became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-1847, and she sadly perished during the ordeal.
While the name Tamsen has waned in popularity in recent decades, it has a rich historical heritage and has been borne by several notable figures throughout the centuries.
People
Tamsen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamsen 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
Tamsen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamsen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 356 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamsen 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 962,793 US residents.
Is Tamsen a common name?
We classify Tamsen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamsen most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamsen was 1979, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamsen is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Tamsen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tamsen 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.