Tanesha
An African-American name of uncertain meaning, potentially derived from a West African language.
Name Census estimates that about 5,007 living Americans carry the first name Tanesha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Tanesha today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tanesha births was 1983 (280 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tanesha. 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 Tanesha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.0K
~ 1 in 68,455 Americans
Peak year
1983
280 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2014 SSA rank
#11,846
Tracked since 1969
Census
Tanesha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,425 people with the first name Tanesha, which placed it at #4,290 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
#4,290
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,425 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
86.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tanesha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanesha is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Tanesha 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 Tanesha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American86.1% · 3,809
- White5.2% · 230
- Two or more races4.4% · 193
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 116
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 54
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 23
Popularity
Tanesha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tanesha from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 2,262 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
Tanesha 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 Tanesha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taneshas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Tanesha, while Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 144 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tanesha
The name Tanesha is a modern American name that emerged in the late 20th century. It is believed to be a blend of the names Tanisha and Keisha, both of which are popular African American names. The name does not have a direct linguistic origin or root, but rather was created as a new name in the United States.
While the exact origins of the name Tanesha are unclear, it is thought to have been influenced by the growing popularity of unique and creative names within the African American community during the 1970s and 1980s. This period saw a rise in the use of non-traditional names, often combining elements from various cultures or creating entirely new names.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Tanesha was Tanesha Shemwell, a track and field athlete from the United States who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Shemwell was born in 1975, making her one of the first generations to receive this name.
Another notable Tanesha was Tanesha Awasthi, an Indian-American author and journalist born in 1982. Awasthi gained recognition for her novel "Girl Maskless," which explored themes of identity and cultural heritage.
In the world of entertainment, Tanesha Ross is an American actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films since the early 2000s. Ross was born in 1980 and has been active in the industry for over two decades.
Tanesha Sutton is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur who founded the skincare company Tanesha Sutton Beauty in 2010. Sutton's brand focuses on natural and organic products, reflecting her passion for wellness and self-care.
Tanesha Peeples is a former professional basketball player from the United States. She played in the WNBA for several years, representing teams like the Detroit Shock and the Houston Comets during her career in the early 2000s.
While the name Tanesha does not have a long historical lineage, it has gained recognition and popularity in recent decades, particularly within the African American community. Its unique blend of sounds and influences reflects the cultural diversity and creativity that has shaped modern American naming traditions.
People
Tanesha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tanesha 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
Tanesha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tanesha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,007 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tanesha 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 68,455 US residents.
Is Tanesha a common name?
We classify Tanesha as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,307 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tanesha most popular?
The single biggest year for Tanesha was 1983, when 280 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tanesha is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tanesha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,425 people with the name Tanesha, or 1.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,290 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 Tanesha 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 Tanesha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tanesha appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,426 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 Tanesha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tanesha is Black at 86.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Tanesha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Tanesha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.1% (3,809 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 Tanesha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tanesha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tanesha 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 Tanesha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tanesha 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 Tanesha 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 Americans are named Tanesha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.