Tamya
Feminine name of Arabic origin, meaning "handsome" or "precious".
Name Census estimates that about 2,732 living Americans carry the first name Tamya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tamya today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tamya births was 2003 (262 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tamya. 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
2.7K
~ 1 in 125,459 Americans
Peak year
2003
262 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,025
Tracked since 1959
Census
Tamya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,167 people with the first name Tamya, which placed it at #7,121 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
#7,121
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,167 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tamya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamya is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and White (5.1%). 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 Tamya 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 Tamya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.1% · 1,844
- Two or more races5.9% · 127
- White5.1% · 110
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 6
Popularity
Tamya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tamya from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,833 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
Tamya 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 Tamya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tamyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Florida, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Tamya, while Kentucky, Wisconsin, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tamya
The name Tamya has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, which was spoken in the Indian subcontinent as early as the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "tamas," meaning darkness or ignorance, and "ya," which is a suffix denoting diminutive or endearment. The name Tamya, therefore, translates to "little one of darkness" or "little ignorant one."
In Hindu mythology, Tamas is one of the three gunas or fundamental qualities of nature, representing inertia, ignorance, and darkness. It is often associated with the concept of spiritual ignorance or the veil that obscures one's true nature and connection with the divine. The name Tamya, while derived from this concept, took on a more affectionate and endearing connotation over time.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Tamya can be found in ancient Sanskrit texts and inscriptions from the Indian subcontinent, dating back to the 1st millennium BCE. However, it was not until the Medieval period that the name gained wider recognition and usage.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Tamya was a Buddhist nun and scholar who lived in the 7th century CE. She was known for her contributions to the study and preservation of Buddhist scriptures and teachings. Another notable figure was Tamya Devi, a 12th-century queen of the Chahamana dynasty in present-day Rajasthan, India. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her role in the construction of several temples and monuments.
During the Mughal era in India, which spanned from the 16th to the 19th century, the name Tamya was also popular among the nobility and aristocracy. One such individual was Tamya Begum, a princess and poet who lived during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the late 16th century.
In more recent times, the name Tamya has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among those with Indian or South Asian heritage. Some notable individuals with the name include Tamya Mitra, an Indian actress and model born in 1985, and Tamya Dhilion, a Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur of Indian descent.
It is worth noting that while the name Tamya has its roots in Sanskrit and Hindu mythology, it has transcended cultural and religious boundaries and is now used across various communities and regions. However, its association with the concept of spiritual ignorance or darkness has largely been replaced with a more positive and endearing connotation, reflecting the evolution of language and cultural perceptions over time.
People
Tamya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tamya 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
Tamya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tamya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,732 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tamya 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 125,459 US residents.
Is Tamya a common name?
We classify Tamya as "Rare". It ranks above 94.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,783 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tamya most popular?
The single biggest year for Tamya was 2003, when 262 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tamya is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tamya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,167 people with the name Tamya, or 0.72 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,121 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 Tamya 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 Tamya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tamya appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,168 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 Tamya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tamya is Black at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and White (5.1%). 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 Tamya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tamya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (1,844 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 Tamya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tamya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tamya 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 Tamya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tamya 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 Tamya 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 have the name Tamya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.