Tani
A Japanese feminine name meaning "valley" or "fertile field".
Name Census estimates that about 857 living Americans carry the first name Tani. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Tani today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tani births was 1963 (62 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tani. 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
857
~ 1 in 399,947 Americans
Peak year
1963
62 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2015 SSA rank
#13,817
Tracked since 1942
Census
Tani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,123 people with the first name Tani, which placed it at #11,414 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
#11,414
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,123 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tani is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.6%). 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 Tani 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 Tani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.7% · 603
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 143
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.6% · 142
- Two or more races10.2% · 115
- Black or African American9.3% · 105
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Tani
Out of the 1,007 babies given the name Tani since 1880, 99.0% 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.
Tani as a male name
- Ranked #13,817 in 2015
- 5 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1972 (5 births)
Tani as a female name
- Ranked #17,494 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1963 (62 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tani leans strongly female. 1,025 people counted with this name were female (91.4%), compared with 96 male bearers (8.6%).
Popularity
Tani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tani 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 350 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
Tani 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 Tani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Oregon, Michigan recorded the most babies named Tani, while Michigan, Oregon, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 50 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tani
The name Tani has its origins in several cultures and languages around the world. In Hawaiian, Tani is a feminine name meaning "day" or "bright." It is derived from the Hawaiian word "la," which refers to the sun or daylight. The name has been used in Hawaii for centuries and is often associated with the island's natural beauty and tropical climate.
In Japanese, Tani is a unisex name with multiple meanings. It can be written with different kanji characters, each with its own significance. One variation (谷) means "valley" or "ravine," while another (種) means "seed" or "variety." The name is believed to have been used in Japan since ancient times and may have been inspired by the country's diverse landscapes and rich agricultural traditions.
Tani is also a name found in various African cultures, particularly in West Africa. In the Akan language spoken in Ghana, the name Tani means "born on Saturday." In some Nigerian cultures, Tani is a masculine name that may be derived from the Yoruba word "tani," meaning "who is this?" or "who is he?"
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Tani can be found in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a collection of funerary texts dating back to around 1550 BCE. In these texts, Tani is referred to as a goddess associated with fertility, childbirth, and the afterlife.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Tani:
1. Tani Bunchu (1763-1840), a Japanese painter and calligrapher known for his innovative artistic styles.
2. Tani Cantil-Sakauye (born 1959), the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California.
3. Tani Cura (born 1975), a Zimbabwean cricketer who played for the national team in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
4. Tani Naidu (1910-1989), an Indian freedom fighter and politician who served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
5. Tani Tuivai (born 1984), a former rugby union player from Samoa who represented his country in several international tournaments.
The name Tani has a rich and diverse history, spanning various cultures and languages. Its meanings range from natural elements and landscapes to spiritual concepts and significant historical figures, reflecting the versatility and enduring appeal of this name.
People
Tani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tani 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
Tani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 857 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tani 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 399,947 US residents.
Is Tani a common name?
We classify Tani as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,007 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tani most popular?
The single biggest year for Tani was 1963, when 62 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tani is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,123 people with the name Tani, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,414 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 Tani 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 Tani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tani leans strongly female. 1,025 people counted with this name were female (91.4%), compared with 96 male bearers (8.6%). 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 Tani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tani is White at 53.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.6%). 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 Tani most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.7% (603 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 Tani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tani a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Tani 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 Tani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tani 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 Tani 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 Tani?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.